


There's no happy ending, so they say (not for me anyway)

by scarletseeker113, Scribe34



Series: There were days when each hour was a war I fought to survive [5]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Can be read as a stand alone, F/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Ship Wars, Violence, Wedding, in which Peter is adorable an brilliant, in which some crazy stuff happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletseeker113/pseuds/scarletseeker113, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe34/pseuds/Scribe34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let me get this straight," Steve says, looking at Coulson. "Tony just almost died of poison and we are all viable suspects?"<br/>"Yes," Coulson answers. "Unfortunately that's correct."<br/>"Well we all had opportunity," Darcy says, "motive is more unclear."<br/>"None of us have the motive!" Steve says loudly.<br/>"Not even you are that naive, Steve," Natasha says in a bored voice. "Almost all of us want to kill Tony for some reason."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Winter Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this fic is from Dr. Horrible, the song 'So they say.' The title of this series comes from Owl City's new song, Embers.  
> Also, my co-author/person I run everything by before I write it is: prideandfandoms on tumblr. She also happens to be my roommate. I'm straightenshisbowtie on tumblr, if for some reason you are interested. :)  
> You can read this alone, all you have to know is that Pepper and Tony are engaged and that's pretty much it.

Bucky’s eyes fly open as he sucks in as much air as he possible can. Waking up from being frozen for several years is possibly the least pleasant thing that he has ever experienced. 

The room he is in is dark, and the smell of damp dirt invades his noise, masking any other smells that might be present. He blinks several times, letting the shapes above him gain definitive lines.

Two men are standing above him, one in a white lab coat and the other in a uniform. Bucky sits up, examining his bionic arm with inquisitive eyes. It’s been changed while he was asleep again. Technology keeps changing while he’s out.

“What year is it?” he asks the men in Russian, his words are slurred slightly. His tongue feels heavy and unused. 

“2013,” the lab coat answers.

“What’s my mission?” he asks.

“You may find this one difficult for a variety of reasons,” the uniformed man answers, pulling a file off of a nearby table.

“I can handle it,” Bucky says sharply. He takes the file from the man and flips it open, examining the information.

The two men watch them carefully. “Is this going to a problem?” the uniformed man asks.

“No,” Bucky says sharply. He reads the information carefully. This mission is going to be FUBAR.

“You leave tonight, a plane is waiting for you outside,” the uniformed man says. “I assume you know what happens to you if you fail.”

“I’m aware,” Bucky answers. 

Both of the men exit the room, the door slamming shut behind them. Bucky runs his hands through his hair.

“Shit,” he whispers silently, staring at the picture that is displayed in the file. Tony Stark is standing in a tux, flashing a peace sign at the cameras, Steve Rogers- _Steve-_ is standing next to him, arms around each other and laughing. And then, _and then_ , Natasha Romanoff is standing a couple of inches away, laughing at them and covering her smile with her hand.

Bucky looks up at the ceiling. He has no idea how he’s supposed to pull off this mission without dying or joining the Avengers. 

For emphasis, he whispers, “Shit,” again. He thinks it’s justified.

 *   *   *

“Tony, there are several other drinks that are perfectly good that do not contain alcohol or caffeine.” Pepper sets her tea cup down on it’s saucer, adjusting her grip on her kindle.

Tony is sitting across from her, eating a stack of pancakes. He’d actually slept at normal hours last night, and she’d convinced him to go out to brunch at Darcy’s new diner. She’d opened last month, finally deciding to own her own business. Tony had given her her start up loan of course, and all the Avengers frequented the diner, it helped that it was just across the street from Stark Tower.

“I’m sorry, I’m hearing you, but I’m just not understanding. Are you even speaking English right now?” Tony asks with a smirk.

Pepper sighs, rolling her eyes. “Apple juice, milk, water, etc,” she argues.

“Apple juice is just unfermented wine, and there’s no point in that, milk is literally piss from a cow and we need to conserve water, Pepper, don’t you know?” Tony finishes up the last of his pancakes and wiping off his mouth with the napkin. “I’ve got to go, I think I just figured out the problem that I was having with the repulsers, I’m going to go test it.” He has a faraway look in his eye already, like he’s already in the workshop.

“Please don’t die,” Pepper says, catching at his arm.

“Don’t worry, if I did, all my money would go to you anyway,” he says grinning.

“That’s not why I’m worried.”

He leans down and presses his mouth against hers. “I won’t die,” he promises. “Steve will probably make me test the feature in a safe environment or something.”

“Good,” Pepper says firmly, letting go of his arm so he could step away and walk out the door. 

As Tony breezes out the door, and Pepper pulls out her starkpad, starting to make a to do list for the day. She internally sighs, planning a wedding is much more complicated than it should be.

*   *   * 

Peter steps out of the way of Tony Stark as he walks out of the diner. ( _Tony Stark!_ a part of his brain whispers.) He limps into the diner, the bell over the door tinkling as he lets the door slide shut behind him.

Darcy comes out from the kitchen. “You’re late,” she says to him.

“I’m sorry,” he says, ducking his head slightly in an embarrassed move.

“Why are you limping?” She asks, coming out from behind the counter and looking at him up and down.

“It’s my swagger,” he says with a crooked grin. He silently prays that she doesn’t ask anything more. He doesn’t like lying to Darcy, he honestly likes her.

“Peter, what did you do?” Darcy asks with a long suffering sigh.

Damn. Should have known she wouldn’t let it rest.

“It was nothing, it was just a skateboard accident, it was nothing big.” Peter puts on an apron and finds a rag to start wiping down the tables that need cleaning.

“Peter, sit down,” Darcy says. “You are not going to walk on that ankle today. Just man the cash register, let me get the tables.”

“No, it’s fine,” he insists, “I’ll be just fine.”

“It wasn’t a request,” Darcy says firmly. “And I’m going to call Bruce, ask him to take a look at it.”

“Darce, it’s nothing special, it’s just fine,” he insists. All he wants to do is work for today and then go home and crawl into bed and _sleep_ for an eternity and a half. Was that really so much to ask from life?

“Sit,” Darcy commands, pointing to the chair behind the cash register. 

Peter sighs and does as she commands.

Bruce walks in half an hour later, his hair sticking up and his shirt wrinkled.

Darcy walks out to greet him. “Did you even sleep last night?” she asks, as she hugs him.

“No,” Bruce says, pushing his glasses up on his face. “I didn’t realize what time it was until you called me.”

Darcy shakes her head, leading him over to Peter. “Please make sure my employee is not going to die.”

“I just twisted my ankle,” Peter tells him. “She’s overreacting.”

“It’s because she likes you,” Bruce says distractedly. “She worries about the people she loves.” He rolls up his sleeves and then kneels down in front of Peter, pointing to both of his ankles, “Which one?”

Peter sighs, moving his left leg forward. 

Bruce rolls his pants leg up and starts to probe Peter’s ankle with his fingers. Peter stares out the window at the people passing by the street.

“What were you working on last night?” Peter asks. He’s incredibly curious, Stark tower currently houses some of the best minds in science of the current generation. Gwen would love to talk to some of these people. Peter’s mouth twists upwards at that.

It was completely by accident that he got a job at this diner of all places. They were hiring and he applied, he had no idea that it was going to be owned by Darcy, and he had no idea that Darcy would be dating Bruce Banner, be best friends with Jane Foster and living in Tony Stark’s tower. It was all just an accident.

“It’s classified,” Bruce says, and stands up. “I think you’re right, you just twisted it, you should wear a brace just in case. I have one at the tower I’ll go get it for you.”

“Thanks,” Peter says, “you don’t have to, I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not a problem. If it doesn’t heal sometime soon, I’ll need to X-ray it to make sure.” 

Peter nods, “Okay.”

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” Bruce promises and then walks out the door.

 *   *   *

Natasha leans against the wall and watches Clint. He’s standing with his legs apart and braced and he’s pulling the arrows from his quicker faster than her eyes can track. His arrows are slamming into the moving targets in a dead bullseye every time. 

When he reaches back and there are no more arrows he sighs and let’s his arm that’s holding his bow drop.

“So,” Natasha says.

“So,” he answers. He didn’t look around when she came in, but she knew that he knew she was there. That was the way it always was.

“You promised me a vacation,” she says with a smile.

He walks towards the targets to pull his arrows out of them. “I did didn’t I?” he says as he retrieves his arrows.

“And you promised to drop the idea of Disneyworld.”

“That was a great idea,” he defends himself, pointing the tip of an arrow at her in emphasis.

She rolls her eyes and pushes off the wall to come and stand by him as he faces the targets again. “I was thinking South America. Maybe Europe.”

“Africa?” he asks hopefully.

She wrinkles her nose, “I’d prefer it not be Africa.”

“Nat, what are we even going to do on a vacation, we have no idea what to do with ourselves when we don’t have a mission.”

She shrugs. She had thought about that, actually, the idea of doing nothing for days made her squirm. 

“Maybe we can ask Coulson if there’s someone that needs to be taken care of. Maybe we’ll infiltrate a government leader’s inner circle just for fun, I don’t know.”

“The wedding is in a few weeks, shouldn’t we wait until afterwards?” Clint asks. 

“I suppose,” Natasha answers, taking a stance next to him as the targets start to move again.

Clint lets loose several arrows in a couple of seconds. Natasha pulls knives from her boots, her jacket and, surprisingly, the scarf she is wearing. Her weapons slam into the targets alongside his arrows.

She waits until Clint empties his quiver and then they walk to retrieve their weapons. 

“I just want to get out of this town,” Natasha admits. “It feels wrong sitting in one place for so long.”

“It’s nice,” Clint says. “It feels good.”

“Yeah, but we don’t get this, Clint. We don’t get family, we don’t get movie nights and breakfast on Saturdays. We’re not supposed to have a home.” She puts her knives back in their proper places.

“It’s a little late to be raising objections to this, don’t you think? We’re not leaving now.”

“That’s what worries me,” Natasha mutters.

 *   *   *

Listen, it’s not something you expect when you wake up in the morning okay? It’s not like you wake up and go, ‘Oh, you know what? I think that today my best friend from the 1940’s will show up today because he’s been cryogenically frozen on and off for the last 70 years and has been doing work for the Russians in the meantime. I mean, I know that I saw him die and everything, but that’s just details.’

So when Steve steps outside of Stark Tower on the way to meet Meg for lunch he is surprised to see Bucky Barnes standing there, waiting for him. His hair is longer, and a piece of metal sticks out of his right sleeve instead of fingers, but it is unmistakably Bucky.

“Hi Steve,” he says.

“How,” Steve asks, and then his words get stuck in his throat and he clears it, pocketing his keys automatically. “How in the world are you here?”

“How are you here?” Bucky asks.

“I was frozen...” Steve says, staring at him.

“So was I,” Bucky grins and he claps a hand on Steve’s shoulder. His eyes focus in on that touch, making his senses verify that yes, he is touching his best friend, yes, it is real.

Steve steps forward and wraps him in a hug, hugging him tight enough that Bucky stops breathing for a while.

“Steve-” he says breathlessly. 

His friend lets go automatically. “Sorry,” he says, pink tinging his cheeks. 

“I forgot that you were all strong now, I half expected the skinny kid from Brooklyn to come out of that door,” Bucky muttered.

“I’m still the skinny kid from Brooklyn,” Steve answers.

Bucky squints up at him. “I guess you are.”

“So was it the serum, is that what it was?”

“What?”

“That’s the only reason I survived, was the serum made me strong enough to survive for seventy years. I assume that some portion of the stuff Schmidt was testing on you worked too then.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what it was,” Bucky shrugs. “I don’t really question it, I’m just happy that I didn’t die.”

Steve nods and stares at him and then laughs. “I’m so glad you’re back, Bucky.”

“Someone has to keep your ass out of trouble,” Bucky answers.

Steve laughs and places his hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly. “I guess you should come up then, hold on, let me call Meg and tell her I won’t make lunch.”

“Who’s Meg?” Bucky asks with his eyebrows raised as Steve pulls out a phone.

“My girlfriend, she’s great, I’ll introduce you two later.”

Bucky nods, looking at the wall as Steve talks into the sliver of metal and plastic that he’s holding to his ear.

“Yeah, I’m not going to make it, I’m really sorry. Something really unexpected came up. . . . No,” he laughs, “just an old friend, I’m not in any danger of dying.”

Bucky cranes his head back and looks up at Stark Tower. It reaches into the sky, disappearing into clouds.

He’s watched the human race progress in snapshots. It seems they’ve made a lot of progress in the last ten years, judging by Steve’s phone alone.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you tonight?... Okay. Goodbye.” Steve hangs up and then turns back to him. “Come on,” he says, gesturing to the door. “Let’s go up.”

Bucky follows him into the building.

 *   *   *

They walk into the living room on the communal floor just as Bruce is walking towards the elevator with an ankle brace in his hands.

He doesn’t even look up as he steps into the elevator and presses a button for the ground floor. 

“Who’s he?” 

“Don’t make him mad,” is all Steve says.

Bucky nods slightly and shoves his hand in his pocket as he looks around the room. “So this is Stark tower then? Where’s the man?”

“Probably in his lab, I hope he doesn’t blow himself up,” Steve says absently. 

Bucky nods. 

“Clint, stop it,” Natasha’s voice comes down the hall. Her laugh echoes through the room. 

Steve notices Bucky tense up, which he thinks is a little odd, but he doesn’t say anything about it.

Clint and Natasha come into the room, half wrestling with each other. 

“Who’s this?” Clint asks as he ducks a hit from his partner.

“This-” Steve starts but his words die in his throat as he watches Natasha turn to look, and she freezes, her hand going behind her back. It’s not the reaction that he’s expecting.

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

Bucky raises his hand, palm out. “I’m out,” he says. “I’m done. I came to see Steve.”

Natasha raises her eyebrows and shifts her arm slightly in a motion that Steve recognizes easily. He knows that Natasha has a knife in her hand. From his angle, Bucky won’t even know. Steve tenses slightly, ready to throw himself in front of his friend to protect him.

“No one gets out,” she answers.

“You did.”

“With a lot of help,” she says, and her body angles to protect Clint.

He rolls his eyes, moving out from behind her and pulling his shirt out and resettling the neckline so it’s more comfortable. “So you two know each other then?” Clint asks, collapsing on the couch.

Steve admires his nonchalance.

“We were... involved,” Bucky says eventually.

Clint blinks. “Right,” he eventually says.

“How do you know Natasha, Bucky?” Steve asks, and his voice is laced with command.

“We met during our Russian days,” Bucky answers. “How long ago was that for you?” he asks.

“Ten years,” Natasha answers.

“It was just a couple days for me,” Bucky mutters.

“You were involved with him when you were sixteen?” Clint asks. “How old is he? Wasn’t that illegal?”

“Clint,” Natasha says with a sweet smile. “Please stop talking.”

“Are you going to kill me Nat?” Bucky asks. “Don’t pretend that you don’t have a knife in your hand.”

Natasha walks up to him, throwing her knife on the couch as she goes. She launches up into the air, using her signature move with her thighs around his neck and throws him to the floor.

Steve hesitates, trusting Natasha to not kill his best friend, he trusts her to make her point and walk away.

She stands over Bucky with her foot at his throat. Steve reaches for her, but she jerks out of his grip. “Don’t call me that,” she says. “It’s Natasha or Agent Romanoff. And if I find that you are not out, that you are still working for the Russians, if you hurt anyone here then I will kill you. Understood?”

Bucky nods.

Natasha jerks her foot up and stalks out of the room.

Steve reaches down and helps Bucky up, clapping him on the back. “I think you’re lucky to be alive,” Steve tells him.

“I could have taken her,” Bucky says.

Over on the couch, Clint starts laughing. “Oh, you’re so naive,” he says, wiping at his eyes. “I look forward to watching you get your ass kicked in the training room some time. I’m Clint by the way, nice to meet you.”

Bucky nods. “I take it you’re with Natasha now?”

“We have some history,” Clint answers carefully.

Steve thinks of the times when Natasha falls asleep on the couch and wakes up screaming. Clint is always the one there to grab her hands and calm her down. He glares at anyone who comes to close, and he holds her in his arms for a couple minutes afterwards, until she pushes him away. He thinks of the times when Natasha has to crouch in front of Clint and slowly talk him out of his own mind to get him to respond. She whispers that Loki isn’t controlling him anymore, to focus on her voice and come back. He’ll stare at her until he takes a deep shuddering breath that always breaks his trance.

History is the least complicated term for it.

“History which you’re never going to tell me about,” Bucky says. “I get it.”

“Trust is hard to earn around here,” Steve says, looking away from Clint to fasten his eyes on Bucky. “It takes time.”

“Well, I intend to earn that trust,” Bucky mutters.

“Good,” Steve says firmly. “You are not disappearing on me again.”

Bucky mock salutes him. “Yes sir.”


	2. Unveiled Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, if you want more Brucy in your life (and I wouldn't blame you if you do) then read the story placed right before this one in our series. Scribe34 wrote it to show how Darcy gets the diner, and it's fantastic!

Tony emerges from his lab after a while to find coffee. “My coffee machine in the shop broke down Steve, it broke down.” He looks up at Steve with wide eyes. “What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to live? Coffee equates life, and without coffee I think that my heart might literally stop from lack of caffeine.”

“Tony, this is Bucky,” Steve says politely.

Tony starts rooting around the cabinets to find a mug. When he finds one he clutches it to his chest like it’s a lifeline. He looks like a small child holding their favorite stuffed animal.

He peers at Bucky. “Are you interested in being my new PA?” he asks.

“No,” Bucky answers.

“Well, then I’m not interested in you,” Tony answers. “I have ten interviews this afternoon with potential PA’s, and I think normal sleep hours are bad for me, I think that I’m actually going to die of sleeping too much. Do normal people sleep _eight hours every night?_ Because I don’t know how that is even possible.”

“Tony,” Steve says gently.

“Am I rambling again? I’m rambling again, it’s because when I don’t have caffeine in me all my filters go out the door because without stimulators it’s like I’m drunk. I feel drunk right now. I haven’t been drunk since I was fifteen.” Tony looks around the kitchen like he’s missing something. “I have to go, I have interviews, have I mentioned?” He looks around, snapping his fingers and pointing at Bucky. “On second thought, are you the Bucky that was alive in 1941, _the_ Bucky as in _Bucky_ Bucky?”

“Yes,” Steve answers.

“And you’re Howard Stark’s son?” Bucky asks with a wicked smirk.

“Bucky,” Steve says in a low voice.

“No, no, let’s hear it,” Tony says. “Because that’s just what I need today, I need to know exactly how much I don’t measure up to my father.”

“I thought your dad was an asshat actually,” Bucky answers.

“Oh.” Tony blinks. “I like him,” he tells Steve. He turns back to Bucky. “Are you staying?”

“Depends on if Steve is good with that,” Bucky answers.

“Of course I am,” Steve exclaims. “I’d love to have you stay for a while.”

“Alright, then I’ll stay in the city for a couple weeks,” Bucky nods.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re staying here,” Tony answers. “We’ve definitely got room and you’re Steve’s best friend back from the dead, you’ll have to tell me how you did that by the way, and I have a feeling you’ll be a good addition to the group.”

“You can stay on my floor, I’ve got a guest room,” Steve says.

Tony raises his eyebrows, privately thinking that he’ll give him Clint’s floor if Clint insists on staying in Natasha’s. He has a feeling that Bucky will be around for a while, he’ll have to talk to Clint about that of course, but still, that’s all details. He’s walking back to his lab by the time he realizes he’s out of the kitchen. 

He goes back to ruminating on the fact that he has ten different interviews with potential PA’s today, all hand picked by Pepper. If he blows them off he can be sure that he’ll be dead by midnight, no matter what she’s said. He takes a sip of coffee and then peers at it. He should really break his addiction, he shouldn’t have to rely on something to live a normal life.

Then again, he reasons, everyone relies on food for life and they don’t seem to call _that_ an addiction. He’ll be fine.

Right, back to brooding about his interviews, and has he mentioned that he’s really _not_ look forward to them?

“You’ve mentioned that about five times,” JARVIS’s cool voice says back. Damn he must have been talking out loud again. “You’re first interview starts in five minutes with a Miss Travis. I suggest changing into something more presentable.”

Tony looks down at his wife beater tank top that has grease stains down the front of it.

“What’s the point?” he asks. “This is how’ll I’ll look most days if they get the job anyway.”

“Very well, sir,” JARVIS answers. He can never understand how, exactly an AI can sound exasperated but JARVIS seems to pull it off fairly often. Tony enters his workshop, pushing the glass door open with his hip and balancing his cup of coffee. First order of business: fix his coffee machine.

“Miss Potts is on her way up.” Secretly, and Tony would never ( _never_ ) admit this to anyone but he looks forward to the day when JARVIS has to say, “Mrs. Stark is on her way up.”

Out loud he says, “Why is she coming up?”

“She wants to be present for the interviews. She insists that you don’t ask the right questions.”

“Oh good, then she can do all the work while I do the important things,” Tony replies. 

He starts to pick apart his coffee machine, prying the back panel off and examining the wires inside. The wiring for the heating isn’t working. He sighs, reaching for a tool to strip the wires with.

“Tony,” Pepper’s voice comes from the doorway. “Did you forget about the interviews?”

“Of course not,” Tony calls back. “I’m here aren’t I?”

“Yes, but you’re dressed like that,” she looks at him disdainfully. 

He looks up and smirks. “I thought you liked it when I look like this,” he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He walks towards her and reaches out to pull her near. 

“Don’t get my jacket dirty,” she says, laughing as she pulls away.

“No fun at all,” he answers. 

“So our first interview starts in three minutes, I want you to at least have an opinion by the time we finish so that you can help pick out a PA, alright? And I’m allowed to veto anyone.”

Tony waves his hand at her to show his agreement and braces himself for three hours of hell.

 *   *   *

“Let me make this clear,” Natasha is pacing in front of the couch that is on her floor. Clint is sprawled across it, playing with a knife, twirling it in between his fingers slowly and only half paying attention. “There will be no jealousy crap going around here okay?”

“I can’t believe that’s what you’re worried about,” Clint says. “Tony’s hiring a new PA around here, we’re going to have to initiate them _and_ Bucky at the same time. Do you know how many pranks I have to plan right now? You’re disturbing my thinking process.”

Natasha rolls her eyes.

“Let’s go on a mission,” she says, sitting down on the floor in front of the couch. “Let’s just get out, who cares about the wedding, we’ll just go to Mexico or the Philippines or maybe England. England, let’s go to England.”

Clint rolls over on his side so that he can look at her. “Babe, you’re going to have to face him and it might as well be now.”

“Don’t call me babe,” she mutters, looking down.

Clint launches off the couch, pinning her to the ground. She lets him, barely struggling at all, but her brain is cataloguing all the different ways to flip him off of her. She refrains, but all of her muscles sing with the resistance.

“Babe, sugar, darling, honey, love, pumpernickel,” Clint practically sings.

“Pumpernickel?” Natasha asks, “Seriously?”

She flips him over now so that she’s laying on top of him. This is the closest they’ve ever gotten to sex, and her blood thrills with the entire idea just waiting, forever having the possibility hanging over their heads. 

“You don’t like Pumpernickel?” Clint asks, grinning. His hand rest on her waist as she straddles him. She lays down, propping her elbows on either side of his face and leans down to kiss him. 

“Not particularly,” she answers.

“Gets a good response though,” he says. “Pumpernickel.”

She pushes off of him, dancing away and landing on the couch.

“That was not quite as good as a response,” he says.

“Are you really going to start doing pranks again?” she asks to distract him from his previous line of thought.

“‘Course,” he answers. “Everyone else got pranked when they moved in, why not these people?”

Natasha remembers only too well the pranks that ensued the first couple of weeks when they all moved in. All the coffee makers were disabled, which made Tony slightly frenzied, with his hair sticking up as he hoarded every machine in his workshop and worked tirelessly until they were all fixed. Steve’s computer got a virus that popped up with pop culture trivia that had to be answered correctly before you could unlock the computer. He only got three tries for every question. Thor’s hammer went missing for a couple days, and no one even knew how Clint pulled that off, considering that he couldn’t even move it. 

Darcy’s computer wouldn’t connect to the internet and when she used someone else’s computer the internet in the entire building went out. Jane got knocked out with sleeping pills for 48 hours, but everyone simply agreed that was more of a medical intervention rather than a prank. Pepper’s day planner was completely replaced with one that said things like, “December 18th 10:00 AM: first trimester checkup.”

Tony, who accidentally found that entry cornered Clint and told him that if he ever gave him a heart attack like that again then Tony would personally commission assassins to first incapacitate Natasha so that she wouldn’t interfere, and then torture him slowly and then finally, mercifully, kill him. Pepper has since gone without any pranks.

Nothing happened to Bruce.

“The PA isn’t moving in for sure,” Natasha continues, thinking through the possible pranks to come. “And we don’t know if Bucky is even staying in town.”

“He’ll stay in town,” Clint says with certainty, drumming his fingers on his stomach.

“How do you know that?”

“Because nothing is ever easy,” Clint answers. “And Steve’s not going to let him disappear that easily, do you really think that would happen?”

Natasha nods, conceding the point. “I guess you’re right.”

Clint flips onto his stomach, looking over at her and raising his eyebrows. “You want to help me?” he asks, grinning.

“Depends on how good your plan is.”

“Oh, you’ll help me.”

 *   *   *

Peter’s day has been long. Thor has been scarfing down pancakes for the last half hour, and Jane is sitting across from him, scribbling on napkins, muttering about the nine realms and the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Rain is hitting the pavement outside, making miniature splashes where it hits.

“I thought you figured out how the Einstein-Rosen bridge works,” Peter says to Jane. He peers down at the napkins and slides yet another plate of pancakes in front of Thor.

Thor shook his head and pushed his hair back. “My brother attempted to force the issue, but Jane did not comply.” He grins.

“So, no then.”

“No,” Jane says, crossing some part of the equation out. 

Peter stares at the numbers that are written in messy handwriting. He waits as the numbers start to build like blocks in his head. He points at a complicated equation that Jane has written out over three napkins. “That doesn’t make sense,” he says. 

“What?” Jane looks up at him with blurry eyes.

“It doesn’t work,” Peter says, he realizes that he’s saying this like it’s the most obvious thing in the world but he can’t explain it better than that. “Here let me,” he pulls a couple more napkins from the dispenser and pulls out his own pen. He copies the equation she has but changes a couple of numbers here and there. “There,” he pushes them back towards her.

She looks over them. “You balanced it,” she says. She looks up at him and then back at the napkins again. “How did you do that?”

“Well,” Peter taps the tip of the pen against his head and grins.

“It’s not perfect but it’s vastly improved,” Jane sticks her pen in her hair. “Peter, you are a genius.”

“I try not to brag,” he says, tucking his pen back in his pocket and picking up the discarded dirty plates from the table. He stacks them on top of each other and brings them back to the kitchen.

The bell on the door jingles as Jane rushes out, and Gwen comes in.

She approaches the counter and slides onto a stool, pushing her blond hair behind her ear. “Hit me,” she commands.

Peter’s mouth tilts upwards as he pours her a cup of coffee.

“Long day?” he asks.

“You have no idea,” she answers. “My brothers are little snots. And they won’t listen to my mother, so I come home from my philosophy class to find them drawing on the walls of the apartment with sharpie.” Gwen buries her face in her hands. “We’re going to have to repaint the whole apartment.”

Peter leans on the counter and tugs her hands away from her face. “Come on, smile,” he says.

She gives him a fake grin and he laughs. “Come on Gwen,” he leans forward and kisses her softly.

“No PDA in my diner,” Darcy yells at them.

Peter leans his forehead against Gwen’s. “It’s going to be okay, I’ll help repaint it.”

“Thanks,” she whispers. 

“Let’s go out tonight, yeah?” Peter asks.

“As long as there’s not a New York disaster,” she whispers back.

“That’s what the Avengers are for, though.”

“Okay, it’s a date,” she says. “I’m going to go home and make sure I look nice then.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks. “You look beautiful.” He means it too, she looks gorgeous even now, with her hair damp from the rain and wearing a Cornell sweatshirt with what she calls, “her lazy jeans.”

“God, you’re such a sap,” she answers, pushing him away, but she’s laughing. He pushes forward, stealing a kiss before she pushes off the stool and walks out the door.

It seems that Thor has finally decided that he’s satisfied, because he throws some money down on the table and nods at Peter as he walks out the door.

Peter goes to clear the table.

He feels a presence at his elbow and looks up to see Coulson standing over him. “Can I talk to you?” the other man asks.

“Umm sure,” Peter answers.

Coulson looks around, “Privately.”

Peter grabs the dishes and leads the way around the counter to the back. “What’s going on?”

Coulson folds his arms and leans against the counter. “How are you doing, Peter? You must be busy with everything going on.”

“Not really,” Peter answers. “I’m just working, I’m taking a year off of school actually, so I haven’t started college yet.”

Coulson nods. “I wasn’t referring to school I was referring to your hobbies.”

“I’m not the kind of skateboarder who thinks that skateboarding is life, I do other things too.”

Coulson’s fingers tap against his forearm. All the sudden Peter is hit with it. Coulson knows. And still, he scrambles.

“Your uncle passed away last year, is that correct?”

“How is that any of your business?” Peter puts the rag he’s been holding on the counter behind him.

“His murderer was delivered to the police by a vigilante named Spiderman, who seems to actually have characteristics of arachnids. Your father worked with the Doctor Connors, who turned into a giant lizard a couple months ago. Spiderman stopped him. Before your father disappeared he and Doctor Conners were working on cross species genetics. Is there anything you’d care to tell me, Peter?”

“What do you want?” Peter asks, lifting himself up onto the counter and dangling his legs. He pulls out his web dispenser bracelets, snapping them onto his wrists behind his back, just in case.

“I want to make sure you get paid for your services.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The Avengers are on the payroll of SHEILD, and you’ve saved the city as well, it seems only fair. You could join their team, unless you want your identity to remain a secret, in which case we can simply call on you when we need you.”

“Would I be at your beck and call if you’re paying me?” It feels too good to be true, to be able to continue his life and get paid for it. 

Coulson shakes his head. “You can turn down any mission you want, you just get paid for the ones you do.”

Peter nods. “Okay. But I don’t want everyone to know who I am. Not even the Avengers.”

“We’ll keep your secret,” Coulson promises. “I’ll let you get back to work. Thank you for your time.”

When he’s gone Peter thrusts his fist up into the air, and brings it down, hissing “Yes!” He dances over to the sink and starts doing the dishes.


	3. Suspicion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas guys. :)

“I’ve hired Neil,” Tony says firmly, tucking his Starkpad underneath his arms.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Fury answers, standing up from behind his desk. “He doesn’t check out.”

“He has one red flag on his record, because he participated in a gay pride parade where the _spectators_ attacked the _protestors._ Not the other way around. You’ve got nothing Fury, and you know it. I’m hiring him. He’s the best for the job and Pepper agrees with me.”

“We cannot condone this behavior,” Fury answers. 

“I don’t care.”

“Tony-”

“Tell me Fury, is it homophobia or is it just the overwhelming need to control all of our lives, because I honestly cannot tell anymore.” Tony folds his arms. “Or is this just left over irritation at the fact that I won’t give you the technology to the arc reactor?”

“I’ve told you before we need that technology,” Fury mutters. “It would revolutionize the entire world, we’d be unbeatable.”

“See?” Tony points at Fury, “that right there. _I don’t want you to be unbeatable._ God, the kind of damage you could do with that, it would destroy the world, and aren’t you in the business of protecting it?”

“Of course I am,” Fury straightens further and places his fists on his hips. “I already told you we wouldn’t use it for anything that would harm civilians or international relations.”

“Yeah, right, because you’ve been so honest before,” Tony says sarcastically. “I’ve hacked your systems once, Fury, and I can do it again. I’ve seen the plans for the arc reactor, and I can tell you that I will not be giving that information over to you. And you can’t claim that it’s for the country, because we’ve already gone through the Supreme Court on that front, so you can’t use your all powerful governmental power. I have my rights and so does my company.”

“No one has suggested that we force the technology from you,” Fury says.

“Oh really?” Tony looks at his Starkpad. “Tell me if this sounds familiar, ‘If the situation arises forceful tactics may be needed to obtain the technology that has the potential to save countless American lives.’” Tony looks up at Fury. “What about everyone else on the planet, Fury? My weapons were used to kill innocent civilians, if you think I’m going to let that happen again, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

“That is a a code red emergency, that is only if everything else fails first. And how did you even get to read that anyway? It’s not even on the system, it’s printed out and buried deep.”

“You underestimate my powers,” Tony answers. “Nick, if you ever try to take my technology from me I will fire first and ask questions about the world crisis later. I will gladly help with whatever situation that you want me to help with, I will save whatever lives you deem worthy to save, but I will not help you kill whoever you decide is ready to go to the grave without having all the information. Are we clear?”

Fury sighs. “We’re clear,” he answers.

Tony turns on his heel and leaves the room. He walks down a couple of hallways until Coulson falls into step with him.

“How did it go?” he asks.

“Like you’d expect,” Tony answers. “It was basically a train wreck. God, why does he think he can control us?”

“He controls the rest of the world,” Coulson answers, juggling a couple of different folders in his arms. “He thinks he should control the people that save it too.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tony answers. “You’d think he’s realize the hypocrisy of that after what the Council did to him, he’s doing the same thing to us.”

“It’s not a Director’s job to recognize hypocrisy, it’s their job to save as many American people as they can.”

“Yeah, but God,” Tony runs a hand through his hair. “Why does it always have to be American lives? Why can’t we save everyone?”

“That’s impossible,” Coulson answers gently.

“I _know_ ,” Tony answers. “But I wish it was.” He looks over at Coulson, “Thanks for tipping me off by the way. I hadn’t actually snuck into the records yet.”

“I thought you deserved to know.” They pass through the front doors and into the sunlight. “I’ve got to go back home to get some statements from the Avengers. I still haven’t properly documented that Greenland disaster. Are you coming?”

“Yeah, I’m just going to call Neil, ask him to bring me some food from Darcy’s. You want anything?”

“No, I’m good thanks.”

Tony shrugs. “Suit yourself then, I’d forgotten how great it is to have a PA to bring me food.”

“That’s not what they’re really there for, Tony.”

“I know, but they still do it, and that, Phil is what matters. And cheeseburgers. That and cheeseburgers are all that matter.”

Coulson laughs as they get into the car.

 *   *   *

“I don’t trust him,” Natasha says, staring at Bucky from across the room.

“You’re paranoid,” Clint replies. He puts his arm around her shoulders and holds his paperback book with one hand.

“I’m not,” she answers.

“I know,” he mutters. “He hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary, though.”

“Clint,” she turns to him, smiling, “have you been following him?”

“No, I just asked JARVIS to keep an eye on him for a while. He says he’s just been looking up recent events, talking with Steve and reading.”

“Something is wrong Clint, no one gets out easily, you know that well enough.” 

He does know that, he remembers very well. When he first brought Natasha in she lived with him because she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Also Fury insisted that since he brought her in she was officially his responsibility. The number of Red Room agents that came to assassinate her was shocking. They took care of them together, which was the start of their trust.

Bucky has been at Avengers tower for three weeks and there hasn’t been one threat against him.

“But what do we do?” Clint asks. “Tell Steve that we think his best friend is still on Russia payroll? That we think he’s here to kill someone or gather information that will be exploited the next time some tries to take over New York? He won’t believe us, his bond with Bucky is too strong.”

“I know,” Natasha responds in a frustrated voice. “That’s the problem. We’re just going to have to watch him closer I guess.”

“I don’t even understand how he’s here,” Clint says. “Like what, did everyone from the ’40’s just get frozen and wake up in this time? I don’t get it.”

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Natasha agrees. “I don’t even know what they did to him. Did they change his memories? Did they just give him missions and threaten him? I don’t understand.”

Clint shrugs. 

Natasha exhales loudly and then leans against Clint.

Bucky looks over at them, and then goes back to talking quietly with Steve and Meg.

“What’s Tony’s opinion?” Natasha asks.

“Tony trusts Steve, Steve trusts Bucky.”

“Thor?”

“You know Thor, he trusts everyone. Which leaves us with Coulson,” Clint finishes.

“He doesn’t trust him, I already asked him to look into it,” Natasha says. “He’s working on it now.”

Clint raises his eyebrows. “Making plans behind my back I see,” he says jokingly.

“I can’t just sit here much longer, I’m going to the training room,” she says.

“See you later,” he mutters as she stands up and walks away.

 *   *   *

Bucky walks into the training room to find Natasha pounding away at a punching bag. She doesn’t trust him at all, and if he’s being honest with himself, she has every right to.

They worked together on several assassinations and took down some minor governments together. She’s right to keep an eye on him. Especially considering the task he’s been sent here to do.

He’d tried to go off the reservation before, but it didn’t work. It actually backfired in the worst way possible. He shifts his metal arm self-consciously. 

“So, you’re in love with him then,” Bucky says loud enough to be heard.

The Black Widow turns around, wiping sweat off of her forehead.

“Are you serious?” she asks.

“You act differently around him than anyone else. He put his arm around you and you didn’t rip it off for God’s sake. If that’s not love, well, then I don’t know what is.” Bucky walks in a little farther.

“If you insist on having this conversation then you’re either going to need to tie me up and torture me or get me drunk enough to talk, and let’s be honest, Bucky, I’m never drunk enough for that. I’m almost as indifferent to alcohol as Steve. Or Thor,” she adds the god as an after thought.

“I guess I’ll have to tie you up then,” Bucky answers with grin.

“You’d never succeed.”

“Why? Because suddenly you’re a master at hand to hand combat, or because _Hawkeye_ will come and rescue you.”

“I can hold my own,” Natasha says with deadly seriousness. “But I wouldn’t put it past Clint to put an arrow through your neck out of spite.”

“I’d like to see him try,” Bucky responds.

“He never misses,” Natasha says. “Tony had to build an entire target system to challenge him.”

“What’s Tony like anyway?” Bucky asks. “He doesn’t seem like he’s around much.”

She narrows her eyes just slightly, taking a step forward. “He’s eccentric, and he can get away with it because he’s a genius and he’s rich.”

“Hmm,” Bucky answers. “He around here a lot?”

“So it’s Tony,” Natasha says. “That’s why you’re here.”

“What?”

“You didn’t latch onto the mentions of Steve or Thor, you did continue with Tony, so what is it then? Kill him? Steal his tech? Or his money?” She undoes the straps of the boxing gloves with her teeth, pulling them off. “You’ve got to be here for a reason, and you’re still on the Russian payroll, don’t try to deny it.”

“Maybe I’m here to kill you,” Bucky answers. 

“You haven’t tried yet.”

“I’d be an idiot to try now, with everyone around.”

“There’s no one around now,” she opens her arms, inviting him to come closer, to try. 

“But there’s JARVIS. Hypothetically, mind, if I were to try to kill you three other superheroes would be here within seconds.”

“Not if you were quick about it.”

“Do you want me to try to kill you?” Bucky asks, peering at her. This is not the Natasha that he remembers. “You’re cocky all of the sudden,” he says. “You would have never provoked me when you were sixteen.”

“Now I know I have good backup.”

“They might not arrive in time,” Bucky says and for a moment he imagines it. Killing her, so that she doesn’t follow him for the rest of his life. He’ll have to kill her eventually. She follow him when he finishes his job.

“At least I know my death would be adequately avenged,” she says.

“I’m not here for Tony,” Bucky says, turning his palms out towards her. “I’m here to see Steve. I’ve missed him. I wanted to see how he was getting on with his life. It seems like he’s doing well.”

“You’re not here for Steve, don’t be ridiculous.” Natasha moves towards him slightly.

“Of course I am,” Bucky says, his face carefully blank.

“I don’t believe you,” she warns him.

“I would be surprised if you did, honestly,” Bucky answers. 

“I meant what I said when you showed up, I will kill you if you hurt anyone that lives in this tower.”

“I don’t think you could kill me.”

“I could do a lot of things for these people,” she answers. “I’m not the same girl I was when you knew me, Bucky. I’ve changed.”

“I can see that,” he answers quietly. “I’m just not sure what triggered it.”

She raises her eyebrows and turns around, walking out of the training room, brushing past him and trusting that he won’t touch her. He doesn’t.

*   *   * 

Neil comes in with a plate of food twenty minutes after Tony has started working in his shop again.

“Ah, Neil, come in,” Tony waves him forward and grabs the plate from him, grabbing a couple of fries and shoving them into his mouth.

“Pepper told me to remind you that you have a date tonight.”

“Did she think I would forget that? I’m wounded,” Tony mutters as he walks back to the armor. “What do you think of this color? I’m thinking of changing it, I kind of want some blue in there. 

“It might clash with Captain America’s outfit, make it look like you were trying to compete.”

“Mmm, I think you’re right,” Tony scratches at his beard. “I wanted a new color too. Maybe I’ll just change the design.” He turns back to Neil. “Anything else?”

“No sir,” Neil smiles and walks out of the room.

A couple minutes later there’s the hiss of air as the doors slide open as Steve walks in. 

“Hi,” Tony says, surprised to see him. Steve hasn’t come in a couple of weeks, he’s been too busy talking to Bucky and getting caught up.

“Hello,” Steve responds, and he doesn’t say anything else, just sits down on his couch and starts drawing like always.

Tony smirks to himself and flips the wrench into the air and gets back to work. He grabs the burger and shoves it into his mouth, mentally trying to reconfigure the thrusters. He checks the time later and curses.

“I have to go,” Tony says, throwing a rag down on the table. “I have a date tonight.”

“What are you and Pepper doing?” Steve asks.

“Going out to dinner.”

Steve nods.

“How’s Bucky coming along anyway, adjusting to this century well enough?” Tony asks. “I imagine it would be easier, waking up every few years to adjust slightly.”

Steve nods. “He seems like he’s doing well. Better than I did.”

“I’m glad your friend isn’t, well, dead.” Tony says as they get into the elevator. “I just wonder how he got out of the Russians pay.”

“He’s not talking about that,” Steve says shaking his head. “I worry about it,” he admits. “He’s different, he’s not the same Bucky that he was when we were kids.”

“Everybody changes, everybody has to grow up.”

“It’s different, we grew up when we were in war, he’s changed into a whole new person now. I hardly recognize him.”

“His life has been hard,” Tony says. “I’m sure that he’s still the same person deep down.”

“Maybe.”

Tony presses a hand against his stomach, leaning over suddenly and exhales loudly.

“Are you okay?” Steve asks.

“I’m fine, just a stomach thing.” The elevator doors ding and Tony straightens, walking out. “I’ll see you later Steve.”

“See you later.”


	4. Confrontation

Coulson tucks a couple of files underneath his arm and walks into the lab that Bruce generally occupies.

The scientist looks up from his microscope. “Hello Phil, what can I do for you?”

Coulson slides his folder onto the table and pushes it across with two fingers. This is a huge risk that he’s taking. He could be fired for this, potentially killed if his cards come up wrong.

This is the risk he takes, he’s taken it before and he’ll take it again.

He pushes the folder across the table.

Bruce picks it up and flips through it. “This file is for a James Barnes.” He looks over to the picture. “Bucky? Born in New York City, presumed dead in the year 1945, and then- nothing. Where is the rest of the file?”

“That’s my question,” Coulson answers. “I think SHEILD is keeping something from us.” He runs his forehead. “I know they are. Bucky and Natasha were acquainted when she was with the Russians, and yet there is nothing in that file about Bucky working for Russia.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Bruce asks, adjusting his glasses.

“Can you hack SHIELD?” Coulson asks. “I need more information.”

“Why aren’t you asking Tony for this? He’s better at hacking, and he already has a way into SHEILD’s databases.”

“Tony will tell Steve what he finds,” Coulson answers. “And I can’t risk that. Steve is a terrible liar, and we need Bucky unaware that we’re researching him.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Bruce says moving towards the computer.

“His codename was ‘The Winter Soldier,’” Coulson says. He moves around to the other side of the table to look over Bruce’s shoulder.

It seems important, that he’s trusting Natasha with his career. Somehow trusting her with his life and his future is vastly different. But after everything they have been through, he would give Clint and Natasha whatever they asked for.

“This is going to take a while,” Bruce says, “you might want to get some sleep.”

“How long?” Coulson asks, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Twelve hours at least,” Bruce answers. “I can’t go any faster than that when I don’t have an inroad already.”

“Sir, I believe I can help you with that,” JARVIS’s voice comes on over the intercom. “I have already hacked SHIELD and can grant you that access.”

“Can you do it and not tell Tony what we are doing?” Coulson asks.

“I can conceal that from Mr. Stark,” JARVIS answers. “But if he asks me directly I will be forced to tell him.”

“Understood,” Coulson answers.

“Thanks JARVIS,” Bruce says as his screen lights up with SHEILD’s database. He types in ‘The Winter Soldier’ into the search base.

“We need a password,” Bruce says. “Got any ideas before I spend five hours hacking it?”

Coulson reaches over him and types five letters. The database opens up.

“How do you know that?” Bruce asks with a twitch of his lips.

“Fury’s office isn’t quite as secure as he thinks it is,” Coulson answers. “I figured out his password a while ago, he doesn’t change it as often as he should.”

A slew of information comes up. 

Bruce starts to scroll through it.

“Oh my God,” Coulson says softly as they scroll through Bucky’s list of kills. It’s long. Longer than it should be at least, but he’s got nothing on Natasha. “He’s got red in his ledger,” Coulson mutters. 

“To say the least,” Bruce says. “Look at this, most recent siting, in Moscow, a month ago, boarding a plane to London.”

“Let’s find out who his target is,” Coulson says, pulling over a chair and pointing at the screen. “Keep scrolling.”

“You think he’s here to kill someone?” Bruce asks with alarm in his voice.

“I’m almost positive that’s the reason he’s here,” Coulson answers. “And I think SHEILD knows it too. Natasha thinks he’s after Tony, he says he’s here to reconnect with Steve, but he said that after he threatened Natasha, so I’m less inclined to believe him. Stop there,” he commands,

Bruce stops scrolling and they lean forward to read together.

_It is believed that The Winter Soldier is in New York to assassinate Captain America and to obtain any Stark technology that he can._

“Dammit,” Coulson says, pushing back from computer. He pauses, turning back to Bruce. “Don’t get involved,” he says to him. “We don’t need the Hulk in this situation. Go to the diner, make sure Darcy is okay, send Peter up to the tower actually.”

“What? Why do we need Peter here? He’ll just complicate the entire matter,” Bruce argues.

Coulson closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. “I’m not a liberty to say, but just trust in the fact that Peter would be more helpful than hurtful is something happens.”

Bruce nods. “Fine,” he answers.

They part in the hallway.

Coulson starts to speak to the ceiling. “JARVIS, please tell me where Bucky is, and then ask Clint and Natasha to join me there. All the other Avengers as well.”

“He’s in the recreation room with Steve.”

Coulson breaks into a run. If Bucky has not made a move so far then there is no reason to believe that he would make a move now, but there’s no way of knowing.

He pauses in the archway that leads to the rec room. Bucky is in an armchair, and Steve is sprawled out on the couch. _The Princess Bride_ is playing on the screen.

Tony appears coming down the hallway slowly. He has his hand pressed against his stomach. “What’s going on?” he asks.

“Bucky’s supposed to assassinate Captain America,” Coulson answers, staring in the rec room.

Steve is fast asleep and Bucky glances over to him with a fond smile on his face. Somehow, Coulson doesn’t think that Bucky will go through with his orders.

The look on his face is the look that Bruce give Tony when he’s being insufferable, the way Natasha looks at Thor when he begs her to cook food that has some spice in it.

Clint and Natasha come next, with Thor on their heels. 

“Where’s Bruce?” Tony asks.

“I asked him not to come, I didn’t think the Hulk would be helpful,” Coulson answers back.

“What did you find?” Natasha asks.

“Bucky is supposed to kill Steve,” Coulson says. “I don’t think he wants to, though.”

“Well,” Tony says, leaning against the archway, looking very pale. “Who wants to kill Steve anyway? One look at him and you want to just adopt puppies.”

“Are you well, Tony?” Thor asks in a booming voice, attracting the attention of Bucky, who looks over. “You look very pale.”

“I’m fine,” Tony waves his hand.

“What are you guys doing?” Bucky asks, standing up and walking over to them.

Steve shifts on the couch, shaking himself awake and sitting up, “Are we having a meeting?” he asks sleepily.

“Sort of,” Clint mutters. “Should we sit down and talk it all out or just kill him on the spot?” 

“Kill who?” Steve asks, standing up and walking over to the loose circle of Avengers that have drifted farther into the room.

“Bucky has been ordered to kill you, that’s why he’s here,” Coulson says, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. How do you deliver that news gently? “He’s still on the Russians payroll.”

“How do you know that?” Tony asks.

“Bruce, JARVIS and I hacked SHEILD’s database.”

“Without me?” Tony asks, “I’m hurt,” he says faintly. He curls in on himself even more, sliding down the wall a couple more inches. Coulson eyes him distractedly.

“Bucky wouldn’t do that,” Steve says, automatically defending his friend.

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” Clint asks Tony.

“I’m _fine._ ”

“I’m sorry Steve, but it’s the truth,” Coulson answers.

“You son of a bitch,” Natasha says. “You told me. I asked if you were here to kill Tony and to told me you were here for Steve.”

Bucky rubbed his forehead. “I was given that order,” he admits. “I wasn’t planning on going through with it.”

Steve covers his face with his hands.

“Oh, this is going to be a mess,” Clint mutters. 

Natasha grips a knife in her right hand, but she’s watching Coulson out of the corner of her eye, waiting for him to give the order. He doesn’t.

“So you’re still working for the Russians then?” Steve asks. 

“Not anymore, but I was when I showed up,” Bucky says. “I stopped sending in transmissions two weeks ago.”

“Assassins for you will show up with in a couple of days then,” Natasha says. “We should just take care of the problem now.”

Steve takes a half step in front of Bucky.

Bucky shakes his head. “I don’t think they’d waste the resources on trying to kill me, it’s impractical. Anyone they sent would inevitably be killed. They don’t have very many operatives left.”

“You have too much information to let you get away.”

“The question is what we do with him now,” Clint says.

“I believe him,” Coulson says.

Clint and Natasha turn to look at him. “How do you know?” Clint asks. He folds his arms.

“Well, I don’t.” Coulson answers. “I’ve just got a feeling.”

“And we’re supposed to trust that?” Natasha asks.

“My gut feeling is what convinced Fury to let you in,” Coulson says, “and it’s what made me take on Clint.”

Natasha sheathes her knife sullenly.

“I hate to interrupt,” Tony says faintly, as he slides to the floor in final defeat. “But I think I may need a doctor.”

Steve steps over to him, crouching down next to him. Coulson stays where he is, standing next to Bucky just in case. Natasha drops to her knees next to Tony. She presses her fingers to his wrist and counts the pulse.

Tony shudders, a movement that starts at the top of his head and then works it’s way down, through his entire body.

Natasha lifts his lid, looking at his pupils. Tony falls into full blown convulsions then, his limbs twitching.

“Thor,” Natasha beckons the god over. “Carry him downstairs. Steve, go with him, and call medical.”

Tony grabs onto Steve’s shirt, and pulls him closer. “You can’t let them get the arc reactor, Steve,” he says horsely. “You can’t let them take it.”

Steve is fumbling with his phone and saying, “I won’t, Tony, it’s going to be fine.”

Coulson pulls a set of handcuffs off of his belt, sighing. “I’m going to have to take you in,” he tells Bucky.

The other man nods. “I understand,” he says.

“It looks like arsenic poisoning,” Natasha says. “I’ve used it enough times to recognize the symptoms of it.”

Thor carries Tony away to the elevator, and Steve holds the phone to his ear. “Coulson, _don’t_ hurt him,” he says, pointing to Bucky.

Coulson nods to him, promising silently.

The elevator doors ding, and Peter steps out craning his neck to look at Tony as Thor carries him into the elevator, Steve following close behind.

“Well, we know who the number one suspect is,” Clint says, bouncing on his heels. 

“I didn’t do it,” Bucky defends himself.

“Yes, okay,” Coulson raises his hands with his palms out. He hands the handcuffs to Clint. “Cuff him, take him to SHEILD. Do not harm him in anyway. Do not let Fury get a hold of him. Just lock him up. We’ll deal with whether he’s the poisoner or not later.”

Clint nods, taking the hand cuffs and snapping them around Bucky’s wrists. 

Coulson looks at Natasha and repeats, “Do not harm him.”

“I have some self control, Phil,” she answers disdainfully. “I realize he’s more valuable alive than dead right now.”

“Good, take the west elevator and get out of here,” he waves them off and walks over to Peter.

“What’s going on?” Peter asks slowly, tipping forward to watch the two assassins escort Bucky into the elevator.

“Thank you for coming on short notice,” Coulson answers. “Bucky was sent here to kill Captain America, so I thought we could use all hands on deck, but I think it’s taken care of. For now.”

“And Mr. Stark? He didn’t look so good when he was being carried bridal style into the elevator.”

“He’s been poisoned,” Coulson says, and then suddenly slaps his pockets. “I need to call Pepper,” he mutters.

“Yeah,” Peter scratches the back of his head. “So I guess I’m on my own if any New York disasters come up then?” 

“Probably,” Coulson answers.

“Family drama,” Peter says with a crooked grin. “Gets the best of us.”

The elevator door dings and Coulson steps inside it, beckoning Peter with him. “Excuse me for a moment,” he says, holding the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” There’s voices in the background, like Pepper is at a bar, or a diner.

“Pepper, I need you to make your way over to SHEILD medical immediately,” Coulson says calmly.

“Who is injured this time?” Pepper asks. “I didn’t see anything on the news, was it one of Clint’s pranks?”

The elevator doors open on the ground floor, and he and Peter step out. They start walking back to the diner.

“Tony has been poisoned.” He doesn’t think she would want it sugarcoated, he thinks she would want the truth, hard and fast.

There’s silence on the other end, and then the sound of movement. “I’m on my way, now, how does it look?”

“I’m not sure,” Coulson answers. “I had to stay behind with another problem, I’m sure they’ll be able to fix Tony up though.”

“I’m sure,” Pepper repeats faintly, as if she doesn’t quite believe it. “I’ll see you later, Phil. Thank you for calling me.”

“I wish it was with better news,” he answers and hangs up.

“I’m going to go,” Peter says, jerking his thumb vaguely upwards towards the sky. “It feels too orchestrated, everyone being involved in your soap opera. I want to keep an eye on the city tonight.”

Coulson nods. “Give me your phone,” he commands.

Peter hands it over and he programs his number in.

“If anything happens you call me,” Coulson instructs. “If you need help we can send Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk over if needed. Well, if Steve can be pulled away from Tony’s bed which is doubtful.” He hands the phone back.

Peter mock salutes him and then walks into an alley. Coulson pauses for a second, to watch him.

Peter jumps, catching himself on the wall with just the tips of his fingers. He scurries up the wall like he’s crawling across the ground. He flips over, landing on the roof.

Coulson shakes his head, smiling as he walks towards the diner. A minute later there’s a whirring sound, and then Spiderman is swinging overhead, if Coulson squints, he can just make out the shimmering string he’s attached too.

He pushes his way into the diner, texting a fellow agent in SHEILD to send them a car.

Bruce looks up from where he’s sitting at the counter, next to Jane. There are two other SHEILD agents sitting in the window. 

“I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to close soon,” Coulson says to them. “We have some business to take care of.”

They nod slightly and stand up, throwing some cash on the table. They know who he is and they don’t question him.

“It must be serious if you’re throwing my customers out,” Darcy says, coming out of the kitchen.

“What happened?” Jane asks, turning around and fixing him with a glare.

“I’ll tell you on the way to SHEILD,” Coulson answers, waving them out of the diner. 

Darcy flits around the restaurant, flicking off lights and cleaning the counters as fast as she can. They all help her, following her commands as easily as they do on Saturday mornings, when she orchestrates breakfast for them all.

There’s a SHEILD van waiting for them outside when they emerge. Coulson opens the door for them and allows them to climb inside before following suit.

“So, spill,” Darcy commands, once they’re all sitting.

Coulson nods, buckling his seat belt. “Bucky admitted that he was working for the Russians. He says he wasn’t going to kill Steve, and I believe him, but we’ve taken him into custody anyway. Tony has been poisoned, Natasha thinks it’s arsenic, which is a long term poison usually. He has been acting off for about a month, which is incidentally when Bucky showed up.”

Darcy raises her eyebrows in agreement.

“It’s also when he and Fury started fighting,” Bruce points out.

“And when Neil was hired,” Jane says.

They all consider in silence as the car pulls to a stop. Coulson slides out first. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go speak with Fury. I have a bone to pick with him.” He nods to the rest of them and walks through the door, going through security with practiced movements. 

“Welcome back Agent Coulson,” an agent says with a smile.

Coulson nods back with a stern expression. He has a reputation to uphold.

He goes directly to Fury’s office, brushing past the abandoned receptionist dest to find the director typing away at the computer with two fingers. 

“Agent Coulson,” Fury says, glancing up at him. “What can I help you with?”

“When I first moved into Avengers Tower I did background searches on every one of them,” Coulson starts. “When Darcy hired some help for the diner I did background checks on them.”

“Nice find with Spiderman, by the way,” Fury says, pointing at him.

“So when Bucky Barnes moved in and Natasha, my agent and close friend tells me that he worked for the Russians I checked out his file, only to find that he doesn’t have one.” Coulson throws the depleted file on Fury’s desk. “Is there something that you would like to tell me?”

“I falsified Bucky’s file,” Fury admits.

Coulson sighs, placing his hands on the back of the chair in front of him and looking up at the Director. “I’m aware, would you like to tell me why you did so?”

“We wanted to see what he would do, see what the Russian’s intentions were.”

“Tony’s in medical of what Natasha believes to be arsenic poisoning,” Coulson says.

Fury runs a hand over his face. “Tony wasn’t his target.”

“Unless you got your information wrong.”

“We didn’t.”

“It’s irrelevant,” Coulson says, cutting him off. He stands facing Fury with his hands clasped behind his back and speaks calmly. “You let an assassin into my home with _my_ agents, and you didn’t tell me what his objective was. You willfully withheld information for me.That’s unacceptable, Director.” 

Fury raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Don’t let it happen again.” Coulson walks out of the room and proceeds to SHEILD medical.

Steve and Thor are standing outside in the hallway. Well, Thor is standing, Steve is pacing.

Jane and Darcy are sitting on the plastic chairs, Bruce is sitting on the floor, leaning against Darcy’s chair. 

“I’m getting sick of these chairs,” Darcy mutters, shifting.

Her hand lands in Bruce’s hair, absentmindedly rubbing the curls together. 

“Where’s Pepper?” Coulson asks.

“She’s in with Tony right now, she’s listed as an emergency contact,” Jane answers from the chair.

“How is he doing?” Coulson loosens his tie. 

“They say he’ll be fine,” Steve says, wringing his hands together. “I don’t think it was Bucky, Phil, I really don’t.”

“We’ll find out who it is,” Coulson says. 

“I am concerned about these developments,” Thor admits. “If it is not Bucky, then who is it?”

“One problem at a time,” Coulson answers. “One problem at a time.” He loosens his tie again, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to go and interrogate Bucky, ask him some questions and try to verify his story. After that, I’ll go back to the tower, work with JARVIS and try to find out the source of the poisoning, if it was food, coffee or alcohol. Those seem to be the only choices here, considering it’s Tony.”

“That’s a valid point,” Darcy mutters. 

Coulson nods and then turns to walk away. 

“Phil,” Steve calls and follows after him a couple steps. “Thank you, for trusting your gut about Bucky. It means a lot.”

“Of course,” Coulson nods.

“Sometimes I think we’d just all fall apart without you,” Steve says, looking back to the people gathered in the hallway.

Coulson looks over the range of Avengers sitting and pacing in the hallway, and says. “Oh, I know you would.” He heads off to the detainment center.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, guys, I love Coulson so much.


	5. The tide goes out

Darcy watches Jane and Thor walk down the hallway in pursuit of food. Bruce stands up and takes Jane’s seat. Steve is sitting down the hallway, his knees pulled up to his chest and staring at the doorway to the room that has Tony inside of it. Pepper had come out a couple of minutes ago, looking nothing like Pepper. She was barefoot, her heels dangling in her hands, and her hair up in a messy ponytail that didn’t look elegant, it just looked tired. And that was when Darcy knew that everything was falling to shit fast.

Pepper had told them that Tony would need a couple of days to recover fully, that he’d been asleep for the last six hours, and probably would continue sleeping for a while longer. They’d pumped his stomach, knocked him out and stuck an IV in his arm. That was really all they could do. 

She twisted her engagement ring back and forth on her finger and her eyes had welled up with tears and turned red and she’d braced herself with a hand on the doorway and walked inside and shut the door before Steve could reach for her. That was the last update they’d had.

Darcy bites her bottom lip and scuffs her feet on the floor. “I’m worried,” she finally admits to Bruce, and feeling tears well up in her eyes as she says it. “I’m terrified actually,” she says.

Bruce slides an arm around her shoulders and pulls her in tight. “He’s going to be fine. He’s going to be fine because he can’t not be fine, he’s Tony.” he says consolingly. “Just a couple days of recovery, and then it will all be fine.”

Steve continues staring at the door, politely pretending that he can’t hear, even though she’s sure that he can. Or maybe it’s not politeness. Maybe he’s just past the point of caring. 

But it won’t be fine, Darcy knows. Because the last time she was in medical it was with her feet in Tony’s lap and she was singing the Mountain Goats and he was being stupidly loyal and kind and designing Steve a new feature on his shield. It won’t be fine because they’ve been living together with each other for almost a year now, and everyone has adjusted to it. Everyone has adjusted to Tony’s alcoholism and Natasha prowling around in the middle of the night, doing perimeter sweeps. No one even bats an eye when they find Clint in the rafters of the training room- and the fact that Tony consciously thought to put rafters in there for Clint just hits Darcy right in the heart. 

They all take turns prying Jane away from her research, and Pepper away from her paperwork. The stove top is always clean because sauce stains and abandoned noodles on the otherwise pristine surface is Bruce’s absolute pet peeve. They all learn that Thor has an irrational fear of cockroaches, and he will drop Mjolnir on them if needed. When Coulson leaves on an op, they are all quiet for a couple days, missing his calm, steady presence. And Steve, Steve just leads them all effortlessly, settling disputes and calming tempers with a couple of words and a laugh.

They were all so stupidly caring. The anniversary of her parents death began with breakfast in bed and then graduated into a day that was a Doctor Who marathon complete with shwarma take out. Thor insisted on carrying her everywhere, not letting her feet touch the ground, until Bruce put an end to that, figuratively and literally turning a little bit green and ending the discussion. Darcy’s fingers tighten in Bruce’s shirt.

“What if one of them doesn’t come home one day?” Darcy mumbles.

She doesn’t say _when._ She doesn’t except the inevitable demise of one of the members of her family. It’s impossible, the same way time travel and ghosts don’t exist, can’t exist. The entire idea is untouchable.

It’s like standing on the beach with the tide coming in and denying that it will go out, insisting that it’s impossible- adamant until proven wrong by time.

She doesn’t say, “What if _you_ don’t come home one day?” Because that’s her ultimate fear, that someone will someday find a way to harm the Hulk and that his body will come back to her broken and bloodied- or that it won’t come back to her at, that he’ll just be missing for eternity, his entire proof of life gone in an instant.

God, all these thoughts just eat at her, until there’s nothing left.

Bruce presses his lips to her forehead. “Someday that will happen,” he answers. He doesn’t sugarcoat it. “Someday someone won’t come home, and I don’t know what will happen when it does. Maybe we’ll all drift apart, maybe we’ll all grow closer. Maybe we’ll just stop functioning. But that day isn’t today, Darcy. Tony is going to come home, and we’re going to find out who poisoned him, and we’re going to avenge the shit out of him.”

Darcy’s mouth quirks up at Bruce cursing because it doesn’t happen often. 

“We’ve survived this long, and we’ll keep going,” Bruce says, “you’ll see.”

“You’re such a goddamn optimist, I don’t understand it.”

“I’m only an optimist because I have no other choice,” he answers. He pushes her hair out of her face and lifts her head up. “It seems bad right now, but if one of us dies, we’ll deal with that, the same way we deal with everything else. With a lot of alcohol and swearing and killing.”

“That’s healthy,” she mutters, but she knows it’s true already.

He laughs and kisses the top of her head. “I don’t know what else to tell you,” he admits.

“That was good,” she says. “That was what I needed, thank you.” She sits up straight again.

Steve still hasn’t stopped staring at the door.

 *   *   *

“Do you think he’ll turn around?” Steve asks, folding his arms and staring through the glass at his childhood friend.

“Yeah,” Clint answers. “I think he’ll be on our team within the month actually.”

Steve looks at him. “Why do you think that?”

“Because Phil believes him,” Clint answers. “Coulson... He has this way of making you want to make him proud, you know? It’s like the weight of his trust weighs on your shoulders until you earn it. I wouldn’t have turned to SHEILD if it wasn’t for him, I’d still be a thief. Natasha would still be an assassin.” Clint falters, remembering the circus, remembering the dark forest where he turned to SHEILD, when he turned to Coulson. He remembers the alleyway where he put his bow down and trusted Natasha not to kill him, and he brought her in. She acted like a frightened rabbit until Coulson set eyes on her and said, in an exasperated tone, “Don’t kill anyone.” 

“Yes sir,” she had answered with a twitch of a smile. And, true to her word she only maimed agents as she tried to make her way out of the compound that night, until Clint stopped her.

Clint continues slowly. “When Phil believes in you, you make sure you prove him right because the alternative seems terrible. Even Tony feels it, really, have you noticed? He always obeys his orders in the field, even when he doesn’t obey yours. So, if Bucky doesn’t turn around within a month then he really is a cyborg, and I win my bet with Thor and I get to kill him. It’s a win-win really.” He shrugs.

Steve snorts.

“No, but really,” Clint says. “He didn’t kill you, he didn’t poison Tony, he’s already turned, in the end.”

“How do you know he didn’t poison Tony?” Steve asks.

Clint shakes his head. “Because,” he says. “If you’re going to kill Tony Stark you’re going to do it in a fit of rage, by bashing his head in. No one has the patience to go through a month of Tony being sick and bitchy to kill him. Faster is better.” Clint nods to himself.

Steve is staring at him. 

“Get in there already,” Clint demands, nodding into the cell. “Ask him yourself, and you’ll know if he’s lying. He’s your best friend.”

“He used to be my best friend,” Steve corrects, and he doesn’t tell Clint that he’s thinking about how Tony spent hours fixing up his motorcycle and adding special features. He doesn’t say anything about countless nights spent in the lab, sketching the billionaire while he worked on the suit. He doesn’t say anything about the times that he found Tony asleep on his workbench, or in a corner in the living room, or on the kitchen counter, too afraid of the nightmares to willingly sleep. 

It took a long time to make their friendship work, but it started during the Helicarrier attack, and continued during the invasion, where they worked together seamlessly, where Tony made the first concession by saying, “Call it, Cap.”

Steve doesn’t mention any part of that, just snaps his mouth shut and then walks over, pulling open the door and stepping into the hard yellow light of the cell.

Bucky looks up. “Hey, Steve,” he says.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, and he can’t keep the hurt out of his voice.

“I don’t know,” Bucky says, looking down and rubbing his fingers against his forehead.

“It’s not that hard!” Steve half-shouts. 

“Oh, yeah,” Bucky stands up abruptly. “I’m just supposed to tell you that I’ve killed dozens of people for the Russians and that I’m still working for them and that I’m supposed to kill _you_ next. I’m just supposed to say that?”

“Yes!” Steve says. “I would have helped you, we would have- I don’t know, taken down the Russian operation or something.”

“Taken down the Russian operation, just like that,” Bucky says. “Like it’s that goddamn easy.”

“Why not?” Steve asks. “We took down Schmidt didn’t we, and now we’ve got better resources, a better team.”

“You’ve also got a lot more weaknesses, Steve,” Bucky snaps and then pulls back, sitting down again.

“They’re not weakness, they’re friends,” Steve says calmly. “Just like you are,” he  reminds him. 

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry,” he apologizes awkwardly.

“It’s fine,” Steve answers, immediately forgiving him. “An agent is going to come in here, ask you for information about the Russians. I need you to answer them as best you can.”

Bucky nods. “Okay,” he answers.

Steve turns to walk out, his hand is on the handle when Bucky calls his name. He pauses.

“How’s Tony?” he asks.

“He’s going to be okay.”

“Good, that’s ... good. I know you two are close.”

Steve nods stiffly and walks out.

 *   *   *

"Let me get this straight," Steve says, looking at Coulson. "Tony just almost died of poison and we are all viable suspects?"

"Yes," Coulson answers. "Unfortunately that's correct."

"Well we all had opportunity," Darcy says, "motive is more unclear."

"None of us have the motive!" Steve says loudly.

"Not even you are that naive, Steve," Natasha says in a bored voice. "Almost all of us want to kill Tony for some reason."

They’re standing outside Tony’s room, in a loose circle, investigating their options.

“Let’s take a head count, who, in this group, has considered killing Tony at some point in the last year?” Natasha asks.

Everyone, even Thor, raises their hand, some rather hesitantly. Pepper, for her part, thrusts her hand in the air violently.

Everyone turns to Steve, who hasn’t moved.

“Seriously?” Darcy asks. “Not even when he poured coffee over your drawings?”

“That was an accident,” Steve protests.

“Or when he ruined your date with Meg by handcuffing you two to the fridge? Because that was a fun night,” Clint says sarcastically.

“We were able to pick it,” Steve offers weakly.

“ _After_ Natasha and Coulson got back from Africa the next day,” Pepper says.

“Although, that was half your fault for not allowing us to just cut the chain,” Jane says with a wicked smile.

“What about the time when he defied your order and flew into a collapsing building for the rush?” Bruce asks. “I mean, I know it’s contradictory because you were just happy he was alive, but come on, you thought about killing him for half a second.”

“Fine,” Steve says. “Fine. I’ve thought about it, but never seriously, I would never go through with it.”

“Of course not, dear,” Natasha says, patting his shoulder.

“Let’s examine our options,” Coulson says, clasping his hands behind his back. “The arsenic was put into Tony’s coffee machine in his shop, which means that he would be the sole target, as he’s the only one who can work the thing.”

“We all had access to the coffee machine,” Clint says, flipping a coin in the air and catching it again.

“And JARVIS couldn’t record the happenings for an entire day thanks to Clint-”

“It was a _prank_ , how many times do I have to tell you,” he protests. “All I was trying to do was download a completely awful virus to the mainframe to stress Tony out for a couple days.”

“That’s _all_ you were trying to do,” Bruce says, raising his eyebrows.

“That’s right,” Clint smiles beatifically.

“And no one else goes near it the rest of the time,” Coulson says, “so we have that day, and that’s it.”

“Right, no problem,” Steve says. “We were all together that day, we played hide and seek while Tony tried to fix it.”

“ Which, I didn’t want to play, because the first time we played it I got thrown off a building,” Darcy says. “I just want to point out that I _got thrown off a building_ thanks to Clint.”

“I’m sorry,” Clint says. “I’m sorry, that was a complete accident, I didn’t mean to push you off the top of the tower.”

“Yes, but it happened.” Darcy answers. “And I almost died.”

Bruce puts an arm around her comfortingly.

“Bruce saved you,” Clint says dismissively.

“Yes he did,” she answers, leaning into her boyfriend and glaring at Clint. “But the point is that I wouldn’t _need_ saving if you hadn’t pushed me off the building.”

“Irrelevant,” Clint answers, waving it away.

“Moving on,” Jane prompts, bouncing up and down.

“Right,” Bruce says, taking over. “But the fact that we were playing hide and seek means that anyone could have snuck into his workshop and put the arsenic there.”

“True,” Coulson admits, “It also means that anyone else could have snuck into the building and poisoned him as well.”

“That,” Steve says firmly. “It was someone else, I refuse to believe it was someone on the team.”

“But it could have been,” Clint answers, suddenly serious. “And you need to accept that Steve, if we’re going to find out who did it. It could have been any one of us. Half of us work for Fury, who wants Tony dead right now, and, well, the other half could have been paid off, been threatened, something. There are a lot of motives for killing someone.”

Steve doesn’t believe it because he _can’t_ believe it. He’s already had one too many shifts in his life, from going from a skinny kid to a man who could actually fight, from waking up in the wrong century, to finding a family in the wrong century and finding that he actually enjoyed it. Finding that he didn’t want to go back.

To accept that one of them was a killer was not going to happen. It would freeze his world all over again. 

He just needed this one constant in his life. That was all he was asking for.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some feels.


	6. I find great comfort in you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is from 'Riches and Wonders' by the Mountain Goats.

Tony wakes up with a gasp and a stab of pain behind his right eye. He looks over to see Pepper dozing in the chair to his right. His hand automatically goes to the arc reactor in his chest, making sure it’s still there, that there is no gaping hole in his chest that would allow the metal to slowly pierce his heart and kill him.

He wouldn’t put it past Fury.

“Pepper,” he says, and finds that his voice is unused and has no force behind it. “Pepper,” he tries again, and this time it works, she starts awake and then moves slowly after that, rubbing her eyes and looking over at him.

“I thought,” she says, taking his hand, “that you had finally decided to give up on us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tony says. “I have to make your lives miserable.” He pauses, reaching over and ripping the IV out of his arm before returning his hand to Pepper’s. She purses her lips but doesn’t say anything. “What happened?” he asks.

“You were poisoned,” Pepper says softly. “God, you scared me to death, Tony. I thought-” she looks away, her eyes rimmed with red.

“Still here,” he prompts, looking up at the ceiling. “Where is everyone?”

“Steve’s got them training, I think he’s gone crazy since you were poisoned. It really did a number on him.”

“Glad to know I have such an effect,” Tony answers, and doesn’t look over at Pepper, because it means a lot to him, that Steve’s affected like that. It means a lot to him that Pepper slept in the chair over night to make sure that he wouldn’t wake up alone. He’s been cautious this last year, half convinced that everyone will walk away from him, the way it’s been all his life. Half convinced that when they see track marks on the inside of his elbow that they’ll cringe away, that they won’t come looking for him after his first drunken night wandering. 

He thought, for the longest time, that they’d all fail miserably as a team and one by one they would all leave. God, he has never been more happy to be proven wrong on a hypotheses. 

“They didn’t scan me or anything did they?” Tony asks, his hand going to his chest again, covering the light that shines through his shirt.

“No, they didn’t,” Pepper answers.

And Tony looks over at the camera in the corner and he promises himself that he’ll hack into SHEILD as soon as possible, and just make sure that Fury didn’t get what he wanted out of this escapade.

 *   *   *

“We’re training,” Steve says firmly, and his glare makes Clint snap his mouth shut , cutting off whatever complaint he had planned.

“Steve, we’re not questioning the fact that we need to train, we’re questioning whether this is the best time to do it,” Natasha says gently, laying a hand on his arm.

He purses his lips together and doesn’t say anything. 

He needs to train with his team right now because he needs to know that they’re trustworthy still, that he can turn his back and not get stabbed. Steve needs to train with them because it will remind him that this is what he’s here for, and that no matter what happens they will still be his family.

They’re standing in the training room, in their gear in a loose circle. Bruce is sitting on the sidelines, watching the training and absorbing the information.

“What’s the exercise today?” Clint asks eventually.

“I don’t care,” Steve says, and God, he’s tired of always being the one who has to pull them all together.  He pulls back from those thoughts immediately, shying away from them, because honestly, the Avengers are the best thing that could have happened to him.

“Hands tied behind our back,” Steve eventually says, and submits while his hands are tied. Natasha does the same thing.

Steve is matched with Clint, Natasha with Thor. Clint advances on Steve slowly, his hands poised in front of him.

Clint swings at him, and Steve ducks it, dodging to the side and ramming his shoulder into Clint’s side, making him stagger slightly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Natasha has already maneuvered her legs through her arms so that her tied hands are in front of her.

Clint grabs at Steve’s waist, jumping on his back nimbly and locking his arm around Steve’s neck, cutting off his air supply.

Steve falls on his back, aiming to make Clint loose his breath, but the archer lets go and rolls away too quickly for that. 

He’s on top of Steve within a half a second, pinning his tied hands down and hands at his throat again.

“Yield,” Steve chokes out, and Clint clambers off of him, smiling.

Right, Steve thinks, don’t get thrown to the ground.

Somewhere a phone starts ringing, “That’s mine,” Steve says, “could you?” He indicates his bound hands to Clint. Clint produces a knife from nowhere and cuts his hands free.

Natasha and Thor are still grappling, it seems like she’s too quick for his muscle.

Steve goes to the side of the room to pick up his phone and checks the caller ID. It’s Meg, he holds up a finger in Clint’s direction and slips out into the hallway, pressing the answer button as he goes.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Steve,” Meg says on the other end, she sounds tired.

“What’s up?” Steve asks.

“I just ... I thought we should talk,” she says hesitantly.

Steve laughs. “Isn’t that what people say when they’re about to break up?”

There’s silence on the other end of the phone.

“Meg?” he asks. His heart is already sinking, and he can feel it, the inevitable heartbreak that will travel through the cell phone signals, through thin air and straight into his heart. For a moment, he wishes he was in the 40’s again, so that they would both be on landlines, so that there would at least be some sort of physical connection to wherever she was.

“I’m sorry, Steve, I didn’t want to do this over the phone,” Meg says, sounding miserable. “But I can’t do this.”

“You can’t date me any more,” he says. Because he needs clarification.

“Yes,” she confirms. “I’m sorry, but it’s too stressful, someone’s always getting kidnapped or there’s an invasion or someone’s in the hospital. I can’t do it, Steve, what if you don’t come home one day?”

Steve’s throat isn’t working. He wants to say, ‘That doesn’t mean we should break up. One day you might not come home either, maybe you’ll get cancer, maybe one of us will get in a car accident. There are so many possibilities.’

He realizes that he’s been silent for a very long time.

“Steve?” she asks. “Are you still there?”

Instead he says, “But that’s what it means, being in a relationship, accepting that one day they won’t come home, that happens in every relationship, even the ones that end from old age.”

He had thought, just a couple of days ago, that _their_ relationship would end with old age.

“I can’t, I’m sorry,” she says again. “I hope you find someone better than me,” she eventually says.

“There is no one better than you,” he says, the words coming out of his mouth on auto-pilot, speaking the truth without even thinking about it.

“Please don’t say things like that,” she says softly.

“I don’t understand,” he says. His brain feels like a printer that tried to process too much paper at once, jammed and unable to work at all.

“It’s too stressful,” her voice is tiny coming over the phone. “I can’t handle it. I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that,” he says, closing his eyes and letting his head drop, just hang off of his neck. “Please stop saying you’re sorry.”

There’s silence for a beat. “I don’t know what else to say,” she admits. “There is nothing else to say.”

“So I can’t change your mind then,” he says in a last hope.

“No,” she answers, and she sounds regretful. “I’m afraid not.”

There’s silence again.

Then, from her end: “I should go, lunch ends in a couple minutes.”

“Okay,” Steve says, “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Steve hangs up, stares at his phone for a moment and then walks back into the training room, thinking that there was nothing that was good about that bye. He sets his phone down on a chair. “Again,” he says to Clint, and his hands are tied behind his back once more.

 *   *   *

Steve ducks into Tony’s room shyly. Tony rolls his eyes, because seriously they are so past this point by now. They’ve risked their lives for each other, they’ve gotten drunk (or tried to get drunk) together, they’ve lived together and fought and apologized and _understood_ each other. 

“Are you just going to stand there?” Tony asks, raising his eyebrows.

Steve comes farther into the room, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat where Pepper usually is.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m just dandy,” Tony says. “Honestly, it’s not that different from alcohol poisoning, and I’ve had that plenty of times.”

Steve looks down at his hands. “I’m sorry,” he says eventually.

“What?” Tony asks incredulously.

“You’ve been feeling bad for a couple of weeks now, and I’m really sorry that I didn’t insist that you go to a doctor or say anything about it, I figured it was just a stomach flu that was taking you longer to get over because you don’t sleep and pretty much only drink alcohol and-” Steve covers his face with his hands. “God, I’m so sorry Tony, that I let Bucky into the tower and that I didn’t realize that he was an assassin. I put everyone in danger.”

“Oh. My. God.” Tony says. “You have managed to blame every single part of this on yourself. Holy shit, Rogers, are you serious right now? One, I’m pretty sure you aren’t the one who poisoned me, so that part is definitely not your fault. Two, I would have refused to see a doctor anyway, so you’re off the hook for that one. Three, HOW THE HELL WERE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW YOUR CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND HAD TURNED INTO A PSYCHOTIC KILLER? Goddammit, Steve, you still manage to amaze me after all this time. You are too damn good for your own good.” Tony frowns, working through that last sentence in his head to see if it made sense.

“Not everyone thinks so,” Steve says, looking down at his hands.  
He looks sad, heart-breakingly so. “What happened?” Tony asks, because something is definitely weighing on him.

“Meg broke up with me,” Steve says, examining his nails still. The silence in the room is heavy until he speaks again.“I thought love was ... staying. Through everything. No matter how much it cost you.”

“It is,” Tony says. “And that’s why you deserve someone better.” Tony shifts in his bed, because honestly, _feelings._ Not his area.

“She kept apologizing,” Steve says. “Like it was an accident, a broken plate or a spilled soda. But it wasn’t, you know? It was more than that. I actually thought that I would spend the rest of my life with her, and she breaks up with me on the phone during her lunch break.” He laughs humorlessly at the ceiling.

“Well, fuck her, Steve. Honestly, if she doesn’t even have the goddamn decency to do it in person and without a time limit then screw her. Screw all of it.” Tony waves his hands in the air. “Goddammit Steve, one day you’re going to meet someone who realizes that you are actually the most decent person to walk the planet and they’ll fall madly in love with you and you’ll grow old together and get a dog and have children and barbecues on Thursday nights and all you’ll need is each other.”

“Thanks,” Steve says quietly and reaches for the bag he brought with him. “I brought you some shirts,” he says, dumping the bag on Tony’s bed.

The mood in the room shifts. “You are a saint, Cap. A saint. I’m calling the pope immediately to get you nominated for sainthood.” Tony digs through the back, grabbing and AC/DC shirt and shucking off the stupid hospital gown to pull it on. “I hope you brought me pants too,” Tony says grinning, going back to the bag to discover jeans in the bottom.

“Where do your scars come from?” Steve asks suddenly, looking at Tony’s right arm, where a loopy scar winds it’s way around his arm.

Tony pulls the jeans on, wiggling awkwardly while laying in bed.

“I’m sorry,” Steve apologizes immediately, “you don’t have to tell me.”

“It was in college. Broken beer bottle,” Tony says, twisting the truth. It was actually at home, Christmas break, but he had been attending college at the time, so that counted at least right? And it wasn’t a broken beer bottle it was the broken bottle of whiskey that shattered on the workshop’s floor, after his father had thrown it there. And then his father proceeded to throw Tony on top of it. 

Steve looks down at his feet.

“That was a lie,” Tony admits. “A big one. I don’t want to talk about it though.” He buttons his pants and looks expectantly at Steve. “Are you going to help spring me?” he asks. “Because I’m not spending another night in this place.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a plan,” Steve answers. “Clint and Darcy are distracting everyone right now, and Bruce and Natasha are walking out with us, that will make us too scary for anyone to say anything.”

“I like this plan, it’s a good one,” Tony says, swinging his legs over the side and standing up. He sways and puts a hand on Steve’s shoulder to steady himself.

“Maybe we shouldn’t take you home just yet,” Steve says, eyeing him with a worried expression.

“I swear to God, Steve, if you don’t help me out of HQ then I will crawl out in the middle of the night and through the streets where I will probably get kidnapped by some idiots who want a ransom, and then you’ll have to deal with me being kidnapped again, and possibly dead, because I will be very sick by that point, and do you really want that on your conscience?”

“I reserve the right to veto this plan,” Steve says, standing up and sliding an arm around Tony’s waist, supporting most of his weight.

“Noted, I reserve the right to kill you if you leave me here.”

Steve laughs and opens the door.

Natasha steps forward and offers Tony her arm. He takes it gratefully, leaning on her as they walk down the corridor. Bruce and Steve fall into step behind them.

“So, Natasha, have you killed anyone while I was out?” Tony asks.

“No I haven’t,” Natasha says, suppressing a smile.

“Well, you’re never going to meet your daily quota if you keep going like this,” Tony says breathlessly, leaning on her even more.

“Stark, stop talking and walk,” she commands.

For once in his life, Tony obeys an order.

 *   *   *

Later that night, Tony is sitting on the couch in his workshop. He can’t precisely stand quite yet, but that’s just details. Steve is sitting next to him, his sketchbook open in front of him, and if Tony glances over he can see the lines of Natasha’s face being formed. Her head is thrown back, and she’s mid-laugh.

“Someday those will be in museums,” he says, twisting the wrench he’s using. He’s working on his gauntlets, making sure that the repulsers are in top condition.

“What?” Steve asks absently.

“Those drawings,” Tony answers. “Someday there will be a museum that is dedicated to the Avengers and those drawings will be splayed out with pins like dead butterflies underneath the glass and stupid third graders will drool on the display and not recognize your talent.”

It’s silent for a moment then: “Are you drunk?”

“Possibly,” Tony admits.

“Where did you even get alcohol?” Steve asks. “I’ve been watching you the entire time.”

“I have my ways,” Tony says with a grin.

“Tony, you’re not supposed to drink anything here, it could be poisoned.”

“This stuff _is_ the poison, Cap.”

Steve sighs, going back to his drawing, filling out one of Natasha’s curls.

Tony goes back to his gauntlet, thinking about how nice it is that Steve comes and sits with him at least once a week. After a second, he admits to himself that he is most definitely drunk, but no need to tell Steve that.

“Steve,” Tony says, staring out the window. “Am I going crazy, or is Peter Parker, dressed as Spiderman, currently outside the window, which incidentally happens to be about 80 stories up? Also, is he bleeding?”

Steve peers out the window. “I think you’re right,” he eventually says and then sighs. He gets up, going over to open the door to the balcony. Wind whips into the room, sending papers skidding across the floor.

“Come on,” Steve says, reaching out and pulling Peter in. 

“You’re supposed to be in the hospital,” Peter says, peering at Tony. “Which meant that this floor would be empty and I could patch myself up.”

“Well, I’m out,” Tony says, laboring to his feet and going over to his med kit that he keeps in the workshop.

“Thanks for clearing that up,” Peter pants sarcastically.

“JARVIS, get Bruce down here please,”Tony says to the ceiling. He turns back to Peter, who has a couple of long gashes down his chest. “Jesus, kid how do you get yourself into these messes?” Tony asks, examining the cut on the side of Peter’s side.

“I’m not a kid,” Peters says defensively.

“Right, sorry, you’re eighteen years old,” Tony responds sarcastically.

“Steve’s technically only twenty one,” Peter tries to sit up.

Tony sighs. Headstrong heroes, his least favorite kind of people to work with. Of course, those were the only kind of people he worked with. 

“That’s different,” Steve tells Peter.

“Why? Cause you have superpowers? Gee, I wonder what that would be like.” Peter tries to pull himself up and ends up hissing at the pain.

“Don’t move,” Tony tells Peter sternly and then pulls out his phone.

“Besides, this wouldn’t have even happened if you guys had taken care of the city instead of working through all your drama,” Peter says in the background.

He walks a couple feet away and calls Coulson 

“Hello?”

“Hey, Coulson, I’ve got a bit of a situation down in my workshop. If you could come down?”

“What kind of a situation?” Coulson asks, Tony can already hear him getting out of bed.

“Well, I’ve got an injured superhero.”

“What? No one told me they were going out tonight, Clint and Natasha aren’t on a mission.”

“That’s because they’re not a member of our team.”

“Well then who is it?” Coulson asks, impatience showing in his voice clearly.

“It’s Peter, who is apparently Spiderman.”

“Ah,” Coulson says.He doesn’t sound nearly as surprised as he should.

“You _knew?!”_ Tony asks, “I’m betrayed that you didn’t share this information with me, Coulson, I’m hurt, I’m wounded deeply. Our friendship is on suspension until further notice.” He hangs up.

Bruce comes through the doors right at that moment. “What’s going on?” he looks a little frazzled, in just a T-shirt and his hair all messed up.

“Peter’s been injured,” Tony says, pointing over to the teenager. He collapses on the couch again, too tired to do anything else.

Steve comes over and sits next to him. “There’s nothing for it,” Steve says. “He’ll have to join the team. He’s not going to be persuaded to stop and someone’s got to keep an eye on him.”

“I suppose,” Tony answers. “Not really much of a choice, I mean the kid works a minimum wage job right now and saves the city by night? God, he needs to live in a skyscraper as a reward.” He pauses, thinking. “I’ll give him his own floor. A couple renovations, and it’ll be perfect. Plus, isn’t he some sort of genius too? He’ll fit right in.”

Steve smiles and shakes his head, “You’ve already adopted him.”

“I don’t adopt people, Steve. That makes me sound so ... motherly.” Tony shudders dramatically.

Coulson walks into the workshop.

“I’m starting to get uncomfortable with the amount of people in my private space,” Tony remarks off handedly.

“We decided he’s going to join the team whether he wants to or not,” Steve tells Coulson.

“Of course you have,” the agent says, running his hand over his face. “There’s no argument to dissuade you I suppose, I’ll draw up the paperwork.”

Tony squints at him. “You wanted this to happen.”

“Well, yes,” Coulson says. “I knew it would as soon as you found out, too.” He walks over to Bruce and Peter.

“When did I become so predictable?” Tony asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just trying to pile on the Steve feels and the Steve/Tony feels and I may as well admit that I pretty much sort of kind of definitely ship Stony a little.


	7. Thin glass in a firefight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, I'm super sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but school started and I've been having some health issues which meant a lot of stress and trips to the doctor. (No worries, I'm all good now). So without further ado, chapter seven.

 

“What happened to not telling anyone?” Gwen asks her boyfriend with a teasing smile on her lips. They’re sitting at the diner while Peter’s on break.

He runs his hand through his hair while looking down somewhat embarrassed. “Well, I was just going to the Tower so that I could get fixed up. Stark was still supposed to be in the hospital still, but apparently he snuck out.”

Gwen laughs. “And somehow this all ended up with you joining the team?” she asks with a crooked smile.

“Yeah, apparently Stark is designing me a floor in the tower,” Peter whispers, leaning forward with an eager look. “Do you realize what this means? I’m going to be living in the same area as _Bruce Banner-_ I mean, he’s the best mind in leading genetics- and Jane Foster and Tony Stark, some of the leading minds in science.”

“Yeah, I’m totally visiting, I have to meet these people,” Gwen says. “Do you realize that Foster is an expert on physics? I mean, this is only the second greatest love of my life. So, I’m infiltrating the tower,” she nods authoritatively, “whether you like it or not.”

“I think I’d like that,” Peter says with a grin.

“Yeah?” Gwen asks.

“Yeah.” He leans forward and kisses her. He pulls back half an inch and says, “So, out of curiosity, what’s the first great love of your life?”

She pushes him back so that he falls into his chair. She laughs, standing up. “Shouldn’t you know this by now?” she asks. She leans down to kiss him once more before straightening, pulling on her jacket. “I have to go, I have school.”

“See you later,” he says, watching her as she glances over her shoulder at him to smile.

Darcy walks past. “Come on, break’s over,” she says.

Peter stands up. “Convenient how the break always ends when Gwen leaves.”

“I like Gwen,” Darcy says with a smile. “I think you two are good for each other.” She presses a rag into Peter’s chest and points at a vacated table. “Come on,” she says. “Time to do your job.”

Peter grins at her and clears the table, wiping the surface off and throwing the rag over his shoulder when he goes back to the kitchen.

Darcy comes into the kitchen after him, leaning on the counter. “Are you coming to movie night tonight?” she asks abruptly. “It’s a team thing, and we do it every once in a while, since you’re part of the team, you know, you should come.”

Peter looks over at her. “I didn’t know it was happening,” he says honestly.

“Well, come,” Darcy says. “And bring your girlfriend too. Gwen should meet everyone anyway.”

Peter nods after a moment, pulling the dishes out of the soapy water and sticking them into the dishwasher. “Okay,” he agrees, looking resolutely at the sink. He doesn’t want to admit that it makes him feel much better to have a place to go where people knew who he was. 

It was hard sometimes, with Gwen as the only person who knew. Her mother would look at him like he was such a disappointment. He wasn’t going to college, and he was working at a diner, and he could almost see her thinking that it was such a waste that her daughter was dating him.

So it’s a refreshing idea, to have a group of people who knows who he is. And it’s nice to know that he’ll have backup if he needs it.

“Good, we start at about seven,” Darcy says, turning and grabbing a couple of plates of food and taking it out to the customers.

 *    *    *

Clint is in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich when there’s a sound behind him. He turns quickly, keeping the knife that is smeared with peanut butter in his hand just in case. 

There’s a skinny kid standing in the doorway of the kitchen. His hair is completely ridiculous, standing up in every direction.

“Who are you?”

The kid scratches at the back of his head and looks down shyly. He is honest to God scuffing his foot against the floor. “I’m Peter,” he says. “Or, er- Spiderman.”

Clint nods, looking at him. “Hawkeye, but you can call me Clint.”

“I know who you are,” Peter says. “We fought together once.”

Clint nods, “You saved my life.”

“You returned the favor,” Peter says. Clint returns to making his sandwich. “So, why haven’t I see you at the diner before?”

“Oh, I don’t believe in paying for food that I can easily guilt trip Darcy into making for me for free here,” Clint answers. “Come on, rec room is through here.”

He leads Peter through the dining room and into a room with a T.V. that is almost as large as the wall. There are several couches and a couple of recliners. 

“Pick a spot, kid,” he says. Clint sees Peter flinch at the word ‘kid’ and he grins to himself. So, sensitive about his age. “We are not watching The Princess Bride again,” he says loudly to Steve and Bruce who are already sitting in the room.

“It’s Steve’s favorite,” Bruce says. “And it’s been a rough week for him.”

“A rough week for him?” Clint asks. “We’ve all had a terrible week, why can’t we watch something like Lord of the Rings, or I don’t know, the Bourne trilogy. Something badass that is totally wrong about tactics and bows slash guns.”

Steve rolls his eyes and says, “Hey Peter, how’s it going?”

“It’s good,” Peter says nodding and taking a seat on the couch. He glances over at Banner, who seems to not notice him at all. Clint smiles. Science crush on Bruce, noted.

Natasha walks in, sliding into the seat next to Clint. A blond, who Clint assumes is Gwen follows behind her, looking around to find Peter.

“We’re watching whatever Steve wants,” Natasha says, elbowing Clint. 

He sends her a dirty look and stops protesting. He’s learned not to mess with Natasha when she gets that expression on her face.

“We can watch whatever you guys want,” Steve says quickly.

Gwen sits down next to Peter. “I walked with her for two seconds and she’s already offered to show me how to castrate a man,” she whispers to Peter. Clint smirks to himself, and he can feel Natasha laughing next to him as they eavesdrop.

Peter half laughs. “Are you going to take her up on the offer?” he asks.

“Of course, it might come in handy one day,” Gwen says, grinning up at him.

Peter shifts self-consciously and she laughs at him.

“Steve,” Natasha is saying threateningly. “Pick the movie you want to watch, and we will all watch it.” There’s an implied threat in her words, which everyone takes seriously. 

“Where’s Tony?” Steve asks, looking around.

“Probably in his workshop,” Bruce says, heaving himself out of his chair. “I’ll go and get him.”

The night is pretty hit and miss, it’s clear that Peter and Gwen feel slightly out of place, but the Gwen is easier with company than Peter and she laughs and makes jokes, trying to make it comfortable.

Darcy and Pepper make it easier, talking with her, and Tony starts a conversation with Peter about his powers and the webbing he uses. They have an enthusiastic discussion about it and how Peter got his powers.

Bruce joins in at that point, and Peter starts talking cross-species genetics with him. The three of them head off to the lab to test some theories. Gwen and Natasha head off to the weapons range.

Clint hides his smile. He knows that Natasha has a personal vendetta to make sure all the women in the tower can defend themselves. She would never admit it, but he knows it’s because she loves them.

Jane goes with them, because she and Gwen are talking physics. Apparently the new couple are both geniuses, which makes Clint groan internally. Just what they need, a couple more brains in the tower.

He says a good night to Thor and Steve, who are both still sitting in the rec room and heads straight to the roof. He wants to be high up tonight, and he wants to be able to look out at his city.

He emerges into the cold air and smiles. The gravel crunches underneath his feet as he moves to the edge of the building.

After a while Natasha comes out onto the roof as well. He knows it’s her without looking. 

“It scares me when you do that you know,” she says from behind him.

He swings his legs back over the edge again, so that he’s firmly on the roof. He looks over at her. “Better?” he asks.

She nods.

“Where’s Gwen and Jane?”

“They were having a science discussion, and I decided it was time for me to get out,” Natasha says, sitting down next to him. “I thought I’d come find you.”

He nods, looking out at the sky. Her hand finds it’s way into his.

“Are you okay?” she asks hesitantly.

“No.”

“Talk to me,” she answers.

He looks over at her and half laughs. He doesn’t say anything, letting it build up inside of him until it can’t be held inside any longer. “It’s just- everything almost fell apart this weekend, Nat. And I know it does this every week, but...” he trails off.

She nods. “It was Steve,” she says. “The fact that he almost fell apart scared the shit out of the rest of us.”

Clint nods. “Yeah,” he agrees softly even though he disagrees. Yes, it was Steve that was falling apart, but it was also Pepper, who still hasn’t gone back to work, and Darcy, who _cried._ Darcy never cried. The only constant was Coulson, who took charge of everything the way he always did, who hadn’t been home in three days because he was still processing all the information Bucky was giving up.

“It turned out alright,” she says.

“Barely,” he answers. She doesn’t argue.

It’s just all so fragile, and it’s only now that he understands why Natasha was so concerned about them staying and getting attached. Because it’s thin glass in a firefight. It can’t not get broken.

They sit on the roof most of the night.

 *    *    *

“Captain,” Thor begins, and Steve looks up at the god. He’d been staring into the carpet, busy not thinking.

“Sorry,” Steve mutters. “I was just ... distracted.”

“I ...” Thor pauses, as if choosing his words carefully. Steve watches him curiously. “I know what it is like to have someone close to you make the wrong decisions.”

Steve blinks.

“I love Loki as a brother though we do not share the same blood.” Thor rubs his hands together and looks down. He looks strangely out of place in civilian clothing, sitting in a black recliner. “It is a hard situation to deal with,” Thor says.

Steve thinks about how Thor goes to visit Loki every week while he’s locked up in SHEILD’s detention center. He always comes back looking tired and worn.

“Yes, it is,” Steve agrees. He hasn’t been to see Bucky since that one meeting.

“Loki is very unresponsive to any help I try to offer. It seems to me that Bucky is much more willing to change,” Thor says. The god stands, laying a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I suggest to try to mend your bridges with him.”

The corner of Steve’s mouth tilts upward. Thor starts to walk away, but Steve turns quickly, “Thor,” he calls. The god turns to look at him. “Do you ... do you think it’s possible to come back from things like this? Do they have any chance?”

Thor frowns, looking down. “Some days I think that my brother is broken beyond repair,” he says softly, his deep voice still carries easily to Steve’s ears. “Other days I believe that he will return to the brother I once knew.”

“What was he like before everything happened?” Steve asks. He’s genuinely curious. He never thought about what Loki used to be like, before the tesseract saturated his brain.

Thor smiles, genuinely at first, and then it turns sadly. “We did everything together as children. We were very close.” He pauses. “He is known as the trickster for a reason, however, I would get in trouble for acts I had not done.” Thor laughs. “But he stood by me through many things and I would not abandon him now. What was Bucky like?”

Steve shifts, thinking back to the forties. “I wasn’t always this big,” he starts out hesitantly. “But I still had a propensity to get into fights, and I’d always be beaten up. But Bucky saved me more times than I could count.” Steve pauses. “He protected me, in a lot of ways he was the big brother that I never had.” He stops talking and presses his fingers to his forehead. “But he’s changed so much now. He’s not a protector anymore, and I don’t see how he can go back to who he was.”

Thor nods. “Perhaps he needs a protector now,” he says.

Steve looks up at him and then nods slowly. “Thanks Thor.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Thor gives him a nod and then retreats from the room.

 *    *    *

“You going to crash here tonight?” Tony asks Peter. “This is fascinating,” he adds, examining the webbing that Peter had shot at the wall. 

“I don’t know,” Peter says, caught off guard. “I suppose, if it gets too late...”

“It will,” Bruce promises from where he’s looking through a microscope at a sample of Peter’s blood. 

“And this can hold your weight?” Tony asks, plucking at the string.

Peter nods. “Yup,” he answers. 

“Show me,” Tony commands.

Peter disengages the string he has attached to the wall and then instead hops up onto a table shooting at the ceiling and swinging across the room.

Tony watches with his arms crossed. “Can I see your dispensers?” he asks.

Peter swings back and shows his bracelets to the billionaire.

“This is fascinating,” Bruce says, sounding impressed. He looks up. “I’m going to have to go into your chromosomes, and then maybe we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Can I help?” Peter asks eagerly. 

“Of course,” Bruce answers. “How much do you know about genetics?”

“A bit,” Peter says. “I’ve read some dissertations on it, and I’ve read my dad’s notes so I understand it pretty well.”

“I’d like to see your father’s notes, if that’s okay,” Bruce says, bending over the microscope again.

“These could work better,” Tony says, “there’s a chance of your mechanism jamming, and that could be fatal. I’ll work on some new ones tonight so that you don’t die while swinging around New York. Also, you’re going to need a better costume. We’ll keep the original design, but we’re going to use better fabric that will be able to withstand some knives and hopefully slow some bullets down.”

Darcy wanders through the door, flinging an arm around Bruce where he sits. He turns to kiss her hello. “Where have you been?” he asks.

“I fell asleep like a normal person,” she answers. “The result of having to open a diner at five in the morning. I need to hire a manager who can do the early morning crap.”

“What time is it anyway?” Tony asks.

“Three thirty in the morning,” Darcy says. “Which means I have to be at work in half an hour. I don’t know why I thought this diner thing was a good idea.”

“It’s already that early?” Bruce asks.

Jane and Gwen come through the door next. 

“Jane, come look at this,” Bruce says, waving her over. “It’s Peter’s blood sample, it’s fascinating.”

“You should see his spider web stuff too,” Tony calls. “Completely awesome.”

“So, you’ve given them all new toys to play with then?” Gwen asks, coming up to Peter.

“I guess so,” he answers.

“Guess what?” she asks. “I’ve got a job now.”

“Really, would it happen to be with your role model and someone you just spent the last couple hours talking to?” he asks, smiling slightly.

“It might,” she allows. “I’m going to be Jane’s new assistant.”

“I need one,” Jane says. “Now that Darcy’s abandoned me.”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “I was a shit assistant anyway, and you know it. I know nothing about physics.”

“You’re a great assistant,” Tony says from where he’s picking apart Peter’s webbing distributors. “You bring food and make people sleep and then, you know, fall in love with their best friends, but I won’t hold that one against you.”

“I found that to be a pleasant side effect,” Bruce admits.

Jane leans back from the microscope. “It’s definitely interesting,” she says. “A spider bit you?” she asks, looking over at Peter.

He nods. “One that was engineered to give cross-species genetics to the recipient.”

“The interesting thing,” Tony says, standing up straight and handing Peter’s bracelets back to him. “Is that it worked successfully on you, but not on the giant lizard.”

Peter nods. He opens his mouth to respond, but then an alarm somewhere goes off and Tony throws his hands up in the air.

“ON EVERY GOOD SCIENCE NIGHT!” he shouts to the ceiling. 

“That’s the assemble call,” Bruce says to Peter. “Suit up and meet in the communal living room.”

Peter nods and turns to give Gwen a kiss. “I’ll see you later.”

“You better,” she responds, and worry is already written all over her face.

“Get some sleep,” he says.

She scoffs. “As if.”

“You can help me at the diner,” Darcy offers. “We can worry together. And Pepper will come in and worry with us. Jane, you coming?”

Jane looks up. “If you’re making pancakes, she answers.

Darcy scoffs. “Of course,” she answers. 

“Then I’m in.”

The two groups part ways in the hallway. Excitement is already building in Peter’s chest for the opportunity to work with the Avengers as part of their team for the first time.

They appear in the communal living room to find Steve, dressed in his uniform with his shield strapped on and wearing a worried face.

“It’s going to be bad,” he says.


	8. A series of unexpected events

“Apparently,” Steve says, facing everyone in the living room, “HYDRA and the Russian operation as joined forces, and they’re here looking for Bucky.”

Thor regards this information gravely. He knows that Steve has a history with this HYDRA, they are old enemies. He feels excitement begin to set into his bones, this means that they will be worthy opponents at least. It has been too long since he’s had a good battle.

“Where are they?” Tony asks.

“Their operation is a few blocks over, SHEILD just got wind of it, they want us to go in and check it out.”

Thor flexes his finger around Mjolnir’s handle. “Let’s go find them,” he says, not noticing at how Peter winces at his loud voice. 

“Just one thing,” Steve holds up a finger. “From what we can gather, the operatives have been ... experimented on.”

“How?” Bruce asks.

“Well, they were trying to reproduce the serum that was used on me, or failing that, at least Bucky. We think they succeeded.”

“So they will be as strong as you?” Thor asks.

Steve nods.

Thor grins. This just gets better and better.

*    *    * 

Pepper wanders into the diner a couple minutes after Darcy, Gwen and Jane do. Jane can tell immediately that Pepper is still not herself. 

Pepper has been a bit of a discussion topic around the tower the last couple of days. She still hasn’t gone back to work since Tony had been poisoned and she hasn’t said much in all that time either. She generally hasn’t been around much.

Jane thinks she just needs some time to remember that Tony is not dead and is going to stay that way for a very long way.

She can relate to that, after she met Thor he disappeared to Asgard for several months, and then when he came back she couldn’t even see him because she was in Norway. When he came back to see her, she had walked around in a daze for several days, always believing that he wouldn’t be there when she turned around. But he always was.

“Come sit down,” Jane tells Pepper, pulling the chair next to her out and throwing an arm around Pepper when she sits.

She’s wearing jeans and a white button down shirt that flows around her thin frame. Jane swears she’s lost weight in the last couple of weeks, which can’t possibly be good for someone who was that skinny to begin with.

Darcy looks towards the kitchen forlornly and then shakes her head decisively and sits down instead. “I don’t know why I decided having a diner was a good idea,” she says, shaking her head.

“You love it,” Jane accuses her.

“I do,” Darcy admits. She slaps her hands down on the table and says, “Okay! We need a girls night, I think. Am I right?”

“You’re always right,” Jane says and stands up to try to find some coffee in the place. She’s been up all night, and she needs caffeine. Pepper looks like she could use some too.

She locates the pot and starts the process.

“Damn right I am,” Darcy says and turns to Gwen. “What should we do?” she asks.

Gwen considers it for a moment. “Dinner,” she says. “Someplace nice, we’ll get dressed up for it. And then- I don’t know, a movie?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jane says. “Pepper, you in?”

Pepper looks up, “Yeah, sure,” she says and then she puts her head in her hand and stares out the window. 

Jane raises her eyebrows at the other two. Darcy shrugs, Gwen looks vaguely confused. Jane sighs, turning back to the coffee. At least that is dependable.

 *    *    *

Tony is pissed. Seriously, apparently every villain in the entire city has something against science. What the hell did science ever to them? Every single night he, Bruce, and Jane get together and geek out something happens and they’re called off. It is possibly the most annoying thing that Tony has ever had to deal with.

The Avengers are piling into a car down below him as the suit forms around his body while he stands on the balcony. 

They drive down the street, Coulson is driving, Tony knows. He always drives on things like these. Bruce will be in the passenger seat, sitting with Coulson and helping over the comms. There are very few situations short of alien invasion that require the Hulk. As a result Bruce generally helps with tactics.

Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Thor are in the van portion, Peter too now, Tony supposes.

He steps off the balcony, letting himself free fall, enjoying the sensation of his heart starting to pound harder as a result, the adrenaline giving him a thrill. He follows along the car above them, doing lazy loops in the air and grinning to himself. He really ought to fly more often.

He doesn’t realize it at first, because he’s not paying attention- rookie mistake. And by the time he does realize it it’s too late.

They’re pulling onto the street where HYDRA is supposedly stationed when Tony realizes that they’re surrounded on the ground.

“It’s a trap,” he says quickly, and the car comes to a stop. They try to reverse, but there’s nothing for it, they’ve blocked off the street with a couple of cars.

“We’re going to have to fight for it,” Tony says.

“Damn it,” Steve mutters.

“What happened to not cursing over the comms?” Clint’s voice asks with a distinct amused tone.

“Barton,” Natasha says, somewhat exasperated.

“Tony, come get Hawkeye, station him on a roof somewhere, give him a good view of the street to cover us,” Steve says.

“Yes, sir,” Tony answers. “You’ve got about fifteen closing in on you,” he informs them. His HUD zooms in on the object one of them is holding. “And they’ve got a bomb, I suggest a quick evacuation of the very blow up-able van.”

They all pile out immediately. Hawkeye has an arrow loaded and it goes through the throat of the bomb holder almost immediately. 

Coulson drags Bruce away into a building, leaving the rest of them sitting in the street. 

A second ring of soldiers fall in behind the first, making the number about thirty.

Tony zooms to the ground, picking up Barton and zooming away, dropping him on a roof. He rolls to minimize the landing pain and comes up on his feet with an arrow loaded.

Sometimes, Tony is incredibly impressed with his talents, not that he would ever tell Clint that. 

He hovers above everyone looking at the scene.

“This is going to be a mess,” he mutters to himself, as he watches his team settle into defensive positions.

The soldiers start to move forward.

*    *    * 

The bell above the door jingles and Gwen turns around to see a man she hasn’t met before walk in.

“Neil,” Jane says from behind the counter, “coffee?” She holds up the pot that she is currently using to fill four different cups.

“I’d love some, thanks,” Neil says and pulls a chair over to the table that they’re occupying, hanging his coat on the back of it. He holds his hand out to Gwen. “I haven’t met you before,” he says. “I’m Neil, Tony Stark’s new PA.”

“I’m Gwen,” she says, shaking his hand. He has a firm grip, which is something that she admires in a person. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“She’s my new PA. Or I guess it’s intern,” Jane shrugs, placing several cups on the table in front of them and going back behind the counter for more.

“Oh, so you’re a physics nerd then?” Neil asks, putting some sugar in his coffee.

“Yeah, that’s my field of study right now,” she answers. He seems genuine, in a way that few people do when inquiring about her interests.

“Where are you attending?” Neil asks.

“Cornell, I’m in my first year there, but technically I’m a sophomore already.”

“AP classes?” he asks.

She nods. “And I did the summer term, so by the end of this semester I’ll be a junior and it’ll only be two years before I can start on my Masters and then on to my Doctorate.”

“You have high expectations for yourself,” Neil says. “It’s very impressive.”

Jane smiles as she sits down at the table again.

“I feel a little inadequate now that I’ve barely finished my undergrad,” Darcy says, taking a sip of coffee. 

“Ah, you’re gorgeous, dating a genius and own your own business, you’re fine,” Neil says, waving his hand.

“Point conceded,” Darcy allows, grinning.

“How are you doing Pepper?” Neil asks, his eyes flicking around to Jane and Darcy quickly before settling back on Pepper’s face.

She looks up and blinks a couple of times. “I’m fine,” she says, looking at Neil and allowing a small smile to come onto her face. “I’m good actually.”

“Have you gone back to work yet?” he asks.

Her face falls slightly. “No, I haven’t.”

“A little vacation never hurt anyone,” he says, waving his hand. “How’s the wedding planning coming along?”

“Not bad,” she says. “I still can’t decide on the center pieces for the tables though.”

He holds up a finger. “I had an idea on that,” he says. “Hear me out on this, but I think you should have a couple different centerpieces that are scattered out throughout the room.”

Pepper leans on her elbow, narrowing her eyes.

“Now, I don’t know exactly what they would all be,” Neil allows, “but then you don’t have to decide on just one. Although I do have a suggestion. I think you should have stacks of old books with a mason jar with a candle in it next to it,” he smiles, looking into the distance. “I like the feel of it.”

Pepper nods slowly, thinking the idea over. 

“Maybe, also you could have framed quotes about love on the tables,” Gwen suggests. “My aunt did that, it was very cute, you just have to find nice frames and then use typography to make it look really good.”

“I like that too,” Pepper says. “Maybe we can just form a committee and we can all plan my wedding together instead,” she laughs.

Neil sits back in the seat, looking somewhat pleased. He drops a wink at Gwen, who smiles. 

Neil, she decides, is alright.

 *    *    *

The fight has been going on for a couple of minutes, and the Avengers, while definitely not winning are also definitely not losing as well. 

Several things then happen at once: 

First, Clint runs out of arrows. He reaches for the button that Tony designed that would bring them all back to his quiver, but before he can touch it there’s someone behind him, locking their arm around his throat. His quiver is in the way, making it an ineffective hold, and he ducks out underneath their grip without a problem, facing his opponent.

Second, Thor throws Mjolnir at a man that is sneaking up on Steve, and is then assaulted by two more people almost immediately, making him unable to retrieve it.

Third, Steve throws his shield at a man that is fighting Natasha, making her able to jump down on him and execute the Widow’s bite. His shield clatters to the pavement several feet from him. The man shakes with electricity and then goes limp. Natasha sends a nod of thanks to Steve, who can’t even acknowledge it, given that he’s too busy boxing with another man.

Forth, Peter drops to the ground and takes on one of Thor’s opponents. He’s not skilled in hand to hand combat, he’s never even had a lesson. He fires webbing at the woman he’s fighting, but she’s strong enough that it doesn’t even slow her down very much. She has him pinned to the ground in seconds, dragging his mask back off of his face and whispering, “Such a pretty throat, what a shame.” She pulls a knife out of her uniform and twirls it between her fingers. Peter strains against her, but he’s not quite strong enough to get her off of him.

Fifth, a HYDRA agent on the top of a building has a sniper rifle nestled against his shoulder. He’s following the flight pattern of Iron Man as he zooms towards his team on the ground. He squeezes the trigger once and hits his target, he can feel it with certainty. Tony feels a jolt in his foot, and then, suddenly, his flight stabilizer in his right boot goes out and he reels to the right, smashing through the window of a building and rolling on the ground, feeling somewhat dazed. His faceplate is immediately removed, and then a fist collides with his nose. He feels the bone break, it’s somewhat unpleasant.

 *   *   *

Steve can see Peter out of the corner of  his eye, about to get his throat slashed open by a woman who’s straddling him. Natasha is busy, Thor is fighting several people,  he doesn’t know what happened to Clint, all he knows is that arrows stopped coming, and Tony crashed into a building a couple seconds ago and has yet to reemerge.

If Steve doesn’t do something then Peter, a kid fresh out of high school is going to die. On his first team mission.

Steve blocks a punch that his opponent throws towards his face and hits him in the gut.

He looks around for his shield. He could throw that, knock the woman off of Peter. His shield is over by Natasha where he threw it to help take out the man she was fighting. His stomach drops- or maybe that’s the punch he just received to the abdomen. He elbows the guys off of him, turns and lays into him with a fury, because he can’t save his teammate when he needs it.

The HYDRA agent goes down, and Steve reaches blindly, his finger grasping around a handle and he heaves upwards, and lets go at the perfect time. Mjolnir flies through the air and takes the woman over Peter in the stomach, crunching her rib cage. Peter scrambles to his feet.

“How the hell did you do that?” he half yells. 

Steve shrugs, and walks towards him, “Stay near me from now on okay?”

Peter nods.

 *    *    *

The woman who punched Tony pulls out some device and presses a button. A high frequency fills the air.

He can feel the power in the suit die. He can’t move, the armor is too heavy to lift on it’s own.

“Remember this?” she asks, waving the device. “It’s your creation. Shuts down electronic devices in a five foot radius.”

Tony doesn’t say anything.

“Where is he?” The woman asks, flexing her grip on her gun. 

“Where’s who?” Tony asks, grinning and then wincing dramatically. “Jesus, woman, what did you do to my nose?”

“Broke it hopefully.” She stands up from her crouch and sighs impatiently. “Tell us where our operative is and we’ll let you live.”

“Don’t want to. Living is overrated anyway.” He still can’t move. Damn he needs to keep a better grip on his tech, anyone can get a hold of these days. 

The woman pivots on her heel to face him again. “I’m sure others would be upset at your death. How’s your fiancé doing? Not so well since you got poisoned right? If you died it would break her.”

“Pepper is stronger than that.”

“Do you want to test that? And what about Bruce, your science buddy. And Jane fits into that category as well I suppose.”

He still can’t move. 

“Steve’s been through so much lately,” she says with a twisted grin. “Do you want to add to his pain?”

Tony is almost sure that his face is purple from the strain of trying to lift his arms. 

“Clint and Natasha, who act like they don’t care about anyone would probably go off the reservation maybe take down SHEILD as revenge, this is all their fault after all. And then there’s Darcy, who you inexplicably love like a favorite niece or daughter. She’s already lost so many father figures in her life.” The woman nods dramatically. “I’m afraid to say that if you die your little family will fall apart, and then they’ll have no one.”

“Okay, this is getting tiring,” someone says from behind Tony. He tries to look, but  hey, guess what, _he can’t move._

The woman turns around looking at the window, just in time for a knife to slide into her stomach. She looks down, and god, Tony thinks, this is all just so _cliche_ right now.

Someone else saunters into view. It’s a woman in a catsuit vaguely reminiscent of Natasha’s.

“Who are you?” Tony asks.

She picks up the device that killed the power to his armor and then peers over him. “You’re welcome,” she says, and then jumps out the window, taking the device with her.

And then, thank Thor, he can move again as power floods into his suit and he stands up, looking around.

The mysterious ninja woman is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I haven't updated in a while and I'm sorry. I kept wanting to update and then forgetting when I got to my computer, it was weird. I actually have two more chapters already written, so I'll update again this week sometime, cross my heart.   
> Also, for those unfamiliar, Steve does throw Mjolnir in the comics, so I'm not completely blasphemous.


	9. An Investigator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I promised another chapter this week, so here it is. :)

They win, as they always do. Clint fights off the two men by finally pressing the release button to bring all his arrows back and he times it just right, so that he ducks and rolls, and every single arrow is then sticking out of his enemies. He has to say, it’s an impressive move.

Tony stomps out onto the ground and fires at all the men that are still fighting until the last fifteen or so run off, knowing a lost cause when they see one.

“What happened?” Steve asks, nodding at Tony and his sudden lack of an ability to fly.

“They took out my flight stabilizer,” Tony says, pointing at his foot. “What kind of bastard does that?”

“The kind of bastard that is a really good shot,” Natasha answers, and meets Clint as he walks out of the building he was perching on. 

“You okay kid?” Tony asks Peter.

“I’m fine,” Peter says, somewhat exasperated. 

“You,” Steve points at Peter, “Are getting hand to hand combat lessons as soon as possible.”

“May I do the honors?” Natasha asks with a grin. 

Peter swallows nervously.

“Congratulations, Captain,” Thor says, clapping a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I have never met a Midgardian who could move Mjolnir.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Clint says, looking back and forth between everyone. Bruce and Coulson step out of the building.

“Oh, he threw Mjolnir while saving my life,” Peter says, nodding.

“Right,” Clint says. “Totally normal.”

Steve runs a hand through his hair. “I need to talk to Bucky.” He looks over at Coulson. 

Phil nods. “Take one of the cars.”

“Thank you.”

 *    *    *

Tony is in his workshop, trying to make his repulsers work again. He officially hates the asshat who shot him. Now he has to redo the entire boot.

He turns around to try and find the wrench he needs. Natasha is standing there, twirling the wrench that he needs between his fingers. 

He jumps, every muscle seizing and then he slams his hand down on the table.

“Dammit, Natasha, make some sort of sound, would you?” 

She looks flatly at him. She hands the wrench to him.

He takes it and turns around, going back to work on the boot.

Natasha walks soundlessly around the table. Tony ignores her for a long as he can, focusing on his work. Finally, he slams the wrench onto the table.

“Can I help you with something?” he asks.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tony?” she asks, folding her arms across her torso.

“I’m working on my suit, what does it look like?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Natasha says.

Tony looks at her. “What are you talking about then?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’m a genius.”

“Idiot,” she repeats.

“If you’re not going to tell me why you’re here then get out of here. I’m not in the mood for cryptic spy crap right now.” He turns around, picking up a blow torch.

“I’m talking about Pepper.”

Tony turns to her. “What about Pepper.”

“She hasn’t been to work in a week and a half and she’s barely talking.”

“I know.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here?”

“Because I don’t know what to do!” Tony yells back. “How am I supposed to make her feel better?”

Natasha rolls her eyes. “Men!” she mutters. “You know nothing. Just go and let her know that you care. She’s in your apartment.”

Tony glares at her.

“Tony Stark if you do not go to your fiancee right now I will kick your ass to China and back.”

Tony narrows his eyes and drops his wrench, muttering about assassins being too high on their goddamn horse, thinking that they can boss everyone around.

Tony finds Pepper in their apartment. She’s sitting on the couch, watching America’s Next Top Model. Tony knows for a fact that she doesn’t like that show. 

She’s staring blankly at the screen.

Tony sits down next to her and reaches for the remote. He turns off the television. She doesn’t even look around, just keeps staring.

“Pepper,” he asks quietly.

She looks around at him. “Hi,” she manages a half smile. It’s not genuine.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

She furrows her eyebrows at him.

“Right, stupid question,” Tony mutters. He rubs his hands together and looks down. “Look, Pepper, I’m kind of at a loss here, and I have no idea what to do. I’m good with machines, parts that fit together and work. I’m not good with people. That’s what you do.” He looks up at her. “So just tell me what you need, and I’ll do it.”

Pepper reaches out and takes one of his hands. “Let’s get married this weekend,” she says.

“I- what?” Tony looks around at her. “I was not expecting that.”

Pepper has a sly smile on her face. “Neither was I,” she admits. “But I think that’s what I want.”

Tony raises his eyebrows. “Are you sure? You’ve spent a long time planning this wedding.”

She nods. “I’m scared that something will happen in between now and then,” she admits. “You almost died this month, Tony, and you have Avengers missions every other month. I’m terrified that I’ll never get the chance to be your wife.”

“I thought-” Tony half laughs. “God, I thought you were going to tell me you couldn’t do this anymore, and you were going to break up with me.”

Pepper pushes his shoulder. “I’m not such a coward to give up something I love just because I may lose it in the future.”

Tony leans forward and kisses her.

“What day of this weekend?” he asks.

“Sunday,” she answers. “I’ve always wanted a Sunday wedding.”

“Okay,” Tony agrees easily. “That’s six days.”

“Six days,” she agrees.

“And then you’ll be Mrs. Stark,” Tony grins, settling an arm around her shoulders.

“Mrs. Potts-Stark,” she corrects. “I’m keeping my name too. Unless you would rather be Mr. Potts?” she peeks up at him.

Tony wrinkles his nose. “Potts-Stark it is,” he agrees.

*   *   * 

Bruce finds Darcy hunched on the floor in her bathroom. She has her knees drawn up to her chest and her fingers are knotted in her hair, pulling as though it will ground her.

“Darcy?” he asks cautiously.

She looks up, her pupils are wide and she’s breathing heavily. “Hi,” she manages to choke out.

“Are you okay?”

“Just havin a panic attack, no big deal.” She puts her head in between her knees again and tries to breath deep.

Bruce sits down next to her, feeling the hard tile acutely and puts a hand on her back. He starts rubbing soothing circles.

“Just breath deep,” he says.

“I know,” she manages. “It’s almost over, it’s been a couple minutes.”

Bruce doesn’t say anything to that, but just keeps rubbing soothing circles.

After a while she raises her head and gives him a weak smile. “Sorry,” she says, grimacing.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t know.” She unwraps her arms from around her knees and lays her palms flat on the ground. “I just- these don’t normally happen.”

“What triggered it?” he asks.

“I was just thinking about the fight you all went through earlier, and how anyone could have been-” she stops talking and takes a deep breath.

“Sorry, dumb idea to ask what triggered your panic attack,” Bruce grimaces. “I should know better.”

“I think it’s because I’m on new medication,” Darcy says.

Bruce looks over at her.

“God, I might as well just get it all out now right?” She looks down at the tile. “My parents died when I was sixteen, and so I moved to my grandmother. I realize now that I was suffering from depression even before my parents died, but they or my grandmother didn’t notice.” She looks up at him. “I’m a very good liar when I need to be. Anyway, I went to college and then my grandmother died, and after a couple months of crying even when I’d had really good days, I decided to get some help. So I’ve been on antidepressants ever since. But my doctor put me on new medication the other day and I think that it’s giving me side effects like anxiety.”

Bruce pressed his lips to her temple. “We’ll go to the doctor tomorrow, get it all sorted out.” 

She peeks up at him.

“Well, unless you don’t want me there, in which case, you’ll go to the doctor,” Bruce adds hastily.

“I’m going to lay in bed and watch TV for the rest of the day, if you want to join me?” Darcy asks with a hint of a smile.

“I’d love to,” Bruce answers.

She pushes herself off the floor, Bruce holds his hands out when she sways slightly. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says, walking out into the hallway. She turns to look at him. “And I’d like it if you came to the doctor with me, if you’d like to come.”

Bruce nods. “I’d be happy to come with you.”

 *   *   *

Steve approaches the interrogation room that Bucky was placed in. He takes a deep breath and then nods to the guard standing outside the room.

He nods back and then opens the door for him.

Steve walks in.

“You come to bust me out?” Bucky asks with a grin, he’s leaning back in his chair. “I’m getting kinda tired of this place.”

Steve sits down across from him.

“Steve? What’s wrong?” He lowers all four legs of his chair to the ground and leans forward.

“They came for you,” Steve answers. “We had no idea they had that many operatives left.”

“Was anybody hurt?” Bucky asks urgently.

Steve stares at him for a long moment. “No,” he answers finally.

Bucky nods, looking relieved and he leans back again. “How many did they send?” he asks.

“About thirty operatives. Most super soldiers.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows. “I didn’t know they had that many either. Interesting.” He taps his fingers on the table. “I’m sorry I’m putting you through this,” he says eventually. “You didn’t ask for this.”

“Bucky,” Steve can’t help but remember what Thor told him about Bucky needing a protector now. “You were- are- practically my brother. It doesn’t matter if I asked for it or not, if you had asked, I would have agreed to help you in any way I can anyway.” Steve looks down at the table. “Coulson’s going to want to kill me,” he whispers and stands up.

Bucky looks up at him. “What are you doing?” he asks.

Steve takes a deep breath. “Busting you out.”

“Is there any chance that this would involve actual fighting? Because I’ve been going crazy just sitting in my cell.”

“No, I’m just going to get you released. We can spar later.”

“Thanks Steve,” Bucky says quietly, looking up. “I won’t let you down.”

Steve grins at him. “You better not.”

 *   *   *

Coulson steps out of the elevator with a woman by his side. Tony comes out of the kitchen with a bagel in his hand. 

“Hey, Agent, you have a license to marry people right?” Tony looks up, and freezes when he sees the woman that Phil is with. “It’s you,” he says.

“It’s me,” she answers calmly. She pulls the strap of her purse higher on her shoulder. 

“You two have met?” Phil asks, looking between them.

“Briefly,” the woman answers.

“I don’t even know your name,” Tony says, stepping towards her.

“I’m Nikki,” she answers, holding out her hand. Tony shakes it. Clint comes out from the kitchen as well. 

“What’s all the fuss about?” he asks.

“This is Nikki,” Coulson says, waving a hand in her direction, “and she’s here from the L.A. branch of SHEILD.”

“Why?” Clint asks, he narrows his eyes at her.

“I’m here to investigate the attempted murder of Tony Stark,” she answers. “The Agency thought that having a neutral third party would be beneficial to the investigation. Agent Coulson here is slightly biased, seeing as he’s living here.”

“Do you need a place to stay?” Tony asks, “least I could do...”

“No thank you, I’ll be staying in a SHEILD safe house,” Nikki answers. “I’m also going to be needing to speak to everyone who is in regular contact with you.”

“Right, of course, you’ll need to dig for all the details of my private life, because what could possibly go wrong with that?” Tony mutters.

“I can start with Clint,” Nikki says, gesturing him into the dining room and sitting down at the table.

Coulson walks over to Tony, who’s watching them.

“So how do you know her?” Coulson asks.

“Well, when we were in the fight with all the Russian agents the disabled my armor. I couldn’t move, it was too heavy and there was this woman taunting me. And then, suddenly, Nikki appears out of no where, takes her out, disappears out the window.”

“So, she saved your life, and now she’s about to find the person who tried to kill you. I think you’re going to have to owe her big time,” Coulson says, with a slight smile on his face.

“I don’t like owing people,” Tony says. He turns to Phil. “So, about what I was saying, can you marry people?”

“Yes, is there a particular reason you’re asking?” Phil asks.

“Course not,” Tony says, grinning. “Just curious.”


	10. Something here will eventually have to explode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is a Mountain Goats song.... :)

Steve walks back into the tower with Bucky. It took him about an hour to get him free. It takes about ten seconds for all hell to break loose.

“Who is this?” A woman that Steve doesn’t even recognize stands up from where she was sitting at the table with Clint. She’s staring at Steve accusingly.

“Bucky Barnes,” he says, moving forward with a winning smile and looking her up and down. “And you are?”

“Who am I? What the _hell_ are you doing here?” She asks, jabbing her finger at Bucky.

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know you,” Steve says angrily.

“Well you know me,” Clint says, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the table. “And I take objection to him being in this building as well.”

“You’re the one who said he would be on our team within the month,” Steve says, throwing his arms in air.

“That doesn’t mean I want him in the tower until we’ve figured out if he’s the one who poisoned Tony or not.”

“I did not poison him,” Bucky says, glaring at Clint. “But thanks for your vote of confidence, it really makes me feel better.”

“But we don’t have proof that you didn’t poison him,” Clint says, standing up from where he was sitting. “And I haven’t stayed alive this long by just ignoring potential threats to my life or my teammates lives.”

“Clint,” Steve says, firmly. “He’s staying here, he did not poison Tony and you are not going to kill him.”

“He couldn’t take me,” Bucky scoffs.

“I could,” the woman says, putting a hand on his hip.

“I would pay to see that,” Clint says, a smile playing on his lips. 

“I’m sorry, we still haven’t been introduced,” Steve says, half glaring at the woman.

“Nikki,” she says, holding out her hand. “And don’t ask for a last name because you’re not going to get it. I’m here to investigate the attempted murder of Tony Stark. Coulson felt you needed an unbiased agent to investigate so here I am.”

“You’re clearly not unbiased if you are already suspecting Bucky,” Steve argues.

“I also suspect Clint, and you actually,” Nikki says, looking between them.

“Hey, I’m the picture of innocence,” Clint says.

Coulson walks out of the kitchen. “Can we break up this little argument please?” he says. “Don’t harass my agent, Steve.”

“I’m _not_ your agent,” Nikki contests hotly.

Coulson tilts his head in agreement.

Darcy and Bruce step out of the elevator. “Where have you two been?” Clint asks, “I haven’t seen you all day.”

“We were out,” Darcy says cooly, putting her purse on the couch. “Who’s this?”

“Nikki, she’s here to investigate Tony’s murder,” Clint says. “Now can you make me some food because you love me? I haven’t had anything decent to eat all day.”

Darcy narrows her eyes at Clint.

“I’m Darcy,” she says, holding her hand out to Nikki, “how good are you at cooking?”

“Not very good,” Nikki says.

“Great, you can make spaghetti at least right?”

Nikki nods.

“Okay,” Darcy beckons everyone into the kitchen. “Nikki, pans under the stove, boil the water, I’ll find the spaghetti for you. Bruce and Clint, you’re in charge of the sauce. Steve, you’ve got garlic bread, use the french bread on the counter over there. Bucky you and I are doing the salad.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows at her. “So eager to get reacquainted with me, Darcy?” he asks.

“Oh darling,” she says, looking at him. “I will tase you into next week.”

 *    *    *

“You don’t have to be present for every interview,” Nikki mutters.

Steve is sitting next to her at the table. “I prefer to, I am the team leader,” he says smoothly.

“Half of these people are not your team.”

Gwen walks into the room, sitting down.

“Doesn’t matter,” Steve answers.

Nikki starts in on her line of questioning, asking Gwen how long she’d been working for Jane and when she first arrived at the tower.

When Gwen leaves, Nikki crosses off her name. “She hasn’t been here long enough to poison him.” She taps her pen against her notebook and side eyes him. “Are you ready for your turn?”

Steve looks at her impassively. “Might as well get it over with.”

“Do you have any grudges against Tony Stark?” she asks. 

“No,” Steve answers. She’s read his file, so she knows that he and Stark have become closer over time, and that once his loyalty is won Captain America is immovable, so she’s not expecting to get a lot out of him.

“I heard that your first meeting was very tense.” Nikki sticks the end of her pen in her mouth. Steve’s eyes follow the movement before snapping his eyes up to meet hers.

“We were being influenced by Loki’s scepter, we weren’t acting like ourselves. Everyone yelled at each other that day.” Steve looks down. “We’re all much closer now.”

Nikki rests her chin her hand, “Can you think of anyone who would want to kill Tony?”

Steve shakes his head.

“Cap, honestly, you can’t think of one person?” she asks disbelieving.

“Tactically it makes sense for the Russians to want him dead, but I don’t believe that Bucky would carry it out. I also don’t believe Fury would order his termination. Even if Tony won’t give him the technology he wants, Stark is still more valuable alive than dead. As for the team, I don’t think anyone of them could try to kill him.”

“Are you aware of The Winter Soldier’s history?”

“I have not looked up his file, no.”

Nikki pulls out a manilla folder. “Would you like to look at it?” she asks.

Steve shakes his head. “Unless he becomes part of my team I will not look at that, it violates trust.”

She purses her lips. He sits straight backed with his hands folded in his lap. He’s staring at her, waiting for further questions. She stares back.

“Where did you come from?” he asks her.

“I was in Los Angeles.”

Steve nods. “How did you get involved in SHEILD?” 

“The normal way I suppose,” she answers, looking away and organizing her file.

“There is not normal way to get involved in SHEILD,” Steve answers. “Everyone’s got a story. Some are more unusual than others.”

“Like being frozen in ice for seventy years?” Nikki asks, her mouth tilting upwards.

“That is one of the more unusual stories,” he allows. He looks at her expectantly.

“I was in the Marines originally actually,” she says. “I was a sniper. I met Agent Coulson on one of his missions while he was in Iraq. He recruited me. I was happy to learn that he was still alive.”

Steve nods. “That was shock to all of us.”

Nikki smiles. “Well, he wouldn’t be Agent Coulson if he didn’t surprise us every once in a while.”

Steve chuckles. “That’s true.”

Nikki turns back to the table. “I need to keep interviewing, are you going to stay for the entire process?” she asks.

“If you don’t mind.”

“It’s fine,” she answers. “As long as you’re not the killer.”

“They’re not a killer if they didn’t succeed,” Steve answers with a smile. “And it’s not me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind as I continue my investigation,” Nikki answers.

 *    *    *

Pepper wrings her hands as she paces up and down her bedroom. She’s been putting this off for far too long. She should have told Tony as soon as she found out, that would have been the right thing to do. But she was scared and he almost died and she had absolutely no idea how he would react but she had to do it now. 

She repeats that to herself several times as she paces the carpet at the foot of the bed.

Now.

Now.

Now.

Oh God, she’s going to cry, she can feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she’s just so scared.

Pepper stops pacing abrubtly. She faces herself in the mirror that is above her dresser. She is Pepper Potts. She is the CEO of Stark Industries (even though she hasn’t been into work for two weeks but that is besides the point). She is Tony Stark’s fiancee. She is a woman who worked her way through college when she had nothing, working twenty hours a week on a part time scholarship and she made it. She has gotten through everything else that life has thrown at her, she can get through this.

The bedroom door opens and Pepper jumps in the air and shrieks. It is not her proudest moment.

“Woah,” Tony says, holding up his hands, “I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

Pepper puts a hand to her chest, her heart is racing. “Tony I need to talk to you,” she says, and the words come out in a rush. Her heart is practically beating a tattoo into her ribcage it’s pumping so hard, and it’s not because of the scare.

“Okay,” Tony says, moving to the closet. He shucks off his shirt and start to pick a new one. “Apparently I’m not allowed to wear oil stained shirts to breakfast anymore,” he says as an aside and then comes to sit on the bed next to her. The arc reactor is shining softly through his shirt. “What’s up?”

He’s smiling easily, looking at her softly and reaching for her hand.

Of course, this is the moment when she starts crying. Full blown water works, water streaming down her cheeks, her nose starts running in two seconds flat and she’s sure that her eyes are puffy and red. She really wanted this to go smoother.

Tony is looking thoroughly alarmed now. He puts an arm around her and draws her in, letting her sniffle against his chest. 

“Pepper, what’s wrong?” He sounds scared.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she mutters, “but I just couldn’t, I was still processing it myself and I’m really sorry Tony.”

“What is it?” he asks, and he puts his hands on her shoulders pushing her back slightly so that he can look her in the eyes. “You don’t want to get married do you?” 

She can see him shutting down, the veil coming down over his eyes and the stony look that assuming his features. 

“That is _not_ what I’m talking about,” she says sharply, more harshly than she intended, but it gets her point across. Tony relaxes immediately, letting the tension flow out of his body and his hands slide down her arms. 

“Then what is it?” he asks.

Pepper takes a deep breath. She just has to say it out loud now. “I’m pregnant,” she manages. 

Tony stares at her. “I uh-” he closes his mouth. “Pregnant right. I’m going to be a father, we’re going to have a child, oh God, I’m so not ready for this. What if I’m as terrible a father as mine was? Oh shit, I’m talking out loud again. Shit, I’m going to have to work on my cussing by the time we have a baby. Oh _shit we’re having a baby,_ ” he says with his eyes wide.

And then he surges forward and kisses her. 

Pepper is dazed as he pulls away, and looks at her with bright eyes. “I’m going to have to start designing a cradle right away because there’s no way we’re putting one of our children in a store bought cradle those things are death traps, Pepper, death traps. They’re so structurally unsound that I’m surprised no one has sued the companies yet. Oh, maybe we should make that a part of Stark Industries, make babies safer all around the world.” Tony has that look on his face, the one where he knows he’s babbling but he just can’t shut up.

“I’m taking this as a good reaction,” Pepper says, smoothing her wrinkled shirt. “Which is relieving.”

“How did you think I’d react?” Tony asks.

“I thought you’d go white and then disappear into your lab for about five days.”

“I’m still probably going to disappear into the lab for five days,” he warns. “How far along are you? Have you gone to see a doctor yet?”

“I think I’m about six weeks or a two months along, and no.”

“JARVIS, set an appointment with a doctor, and make sure I don’t miss it,” Tony shouts at the ceiling. “Pepper we’re having a baby,” he says, looking back at her with his eyes that are shining and a grin that is plastered to his face. 

Pepper laughs and leans forward, kissing him lightly. “Yes, dear, we are.”

*    *    * 

“Yes, but gamma radiation doesn’t work like that,” Bruce says patiently, trying to explain the concept to Tony yet again.

“Okay fine,” he raises his hands in the air. “Why don’t we try just hitting you with another hit of gamma radiation and see if that does everything.”

“I’ve already tried that,” Bruce says, spinning around in his chair aimlessly.

Jane puts down her pen and pushes her paper over to Peter, who’s sitting nearby. “Make sure that’s balanced for me, would you?” she asks. She stands up from where she’s sitting at a lab table and makes her way over to the kitchenette that’s in the lab. She pours herself a cup of coffee. 

Peter puts on his glasses and peers down at the paper. 

Neil steps into the lab, carrying a plate of sandwiches for them. He looks dressed for work, in a vest, tie and slacks, but Tony could have sworn it was still the middle of the night.

“It’s five in the morning,” Neil informs them all. “Sleep may actually be a good idea for the four of you.” He smiles indulgently.

“I don’t even know what sleep is anymore,” Peter mutters.

Neil smiles at him and puts the plate down on a lab table, retreating gracefully. 

Jane slides a cup of coffee on to the table for Peter as well. “Thanks,” he mutters.

Bruce and Tony are still debating in the background.

“It looks good to me,” Peter says, leaning back and taking a sip of coffee and sliding the paper back to Jane.

“Are you lying?” she asks. 

Peter sighs in satisfaction from the coffee. “Why would I lie?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh my god,” Jane breathes. “I figured it out.”

Across the lab Bruce and Tony are moving towards the food that Neil brought in. Tony reaches out for one. “I don’t understand why you want to get rid of the Hulk anyway, he’s very useful at times,” he says.

“Tony,” Bruce says, he’s looking behind the plate, at a lumpy block of _something_ on the table. A red laser is bouncing across the table.

“What is it?” Tony asks, leaning forward. His brain starts running through possibilities, he definitely didn’t bring it in, but it look intriguing enough. He looks over to where the red light is coming from. 

Neil is standing behind the glass of the door, holding laser that looks relatively bulky in his hand.

Bruce is sliding an arm around the front of Tony’s waist, pushing him back behind his body, and Tony is moving behind him without thinking about it, obeying the touch.

Tony gets a spilt second of a view of the red laser steadying on the compound. Then he is consumed by heat, the smell of acrid smoke and the sensation of Bruce exploding into the Hulk, pushing him away from the explosion.

Tony has the fleeting thought that he may never get to meet his unborn child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GUYS PEPPER IS PREGNANT. SHE'S GONNA BE A MOM AND TONY IS GONNA BE A DAD AND HE'S GOING TO SPOIL HIS CHILD AND HOLY CRAP I'M JUST REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
> 
> Also like explosions and things.
> 
> Oh and if you're interested, Sarah and I talk about Avengers ships in one of my vlogs : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvlu0kKs53Y


	11. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY UPDATED OH MY GOSH.

 Bucky walks into the kitchen to find Nikki already there, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Good morning,” he says, walking over and getting himself a cup.

“Are mornings ever really good?” she asks with a smile back.

“Not this early,” Bucky answers easily. “What are you doing here at five in the morning anyway?” He pours himself some coffee.

“Investigation knows no rest,” she answers, taking a long drink of coffee. “That tastes really good.”

“Stark gets some sort of special beans to make coffee with,” Bucky says, wrapping his hands around his cup and breathing in the smell.

“I still need to interview you,” she says. “Can we do that today by any chance?”

Bucky nods and starts to answer, but his words are cut off by a very loud sound that comes from above them, rocking the whole floor.

“That didn’t sound good,” Nikki says.

“That sounded distinctly explosion-ish,” Bucky agrees, and starts to walk quickly towards the stairs.

“This is Protocol One,” JARVIS says over the speakers. “The Hulk has been unleashed in Lab 12, Captain America and Thor please report to Lab 12.”

“Oh shit, that’s not good,” Nikki mutters.

Neil comes down the stairs and continues running down to the next flight.

Bucky raises his eyebrows. “We’re like a hundred floors up, is he going to run all the way down?”

“Explosions automatically shut down the elevators until they can make sure that they’re not damaged in any way,” Nikki responds absently.

“Should we?” Bucky waves towards the stairs that go up apprehensively.

JARVIS comes over the intercom again before Nikki can answer. “Mr. Barnes, Agent, Mr. Stark has requested that you pursue Neil, he caused the explosion in the hop of killing Mr. Stark.”

Nikki and Bucky look at each other for a moment and then start to run down the stairs together. 

“I guess my investigation is over,” Nikki says.

“Yeah, still want to interview me?” Bucky asks with a cheeky grin.

“Shut up, we’ve got like a hundred more floors to go, we probably shouldn’t talk.”

“Yes ma’am.”

 *   *   *

Tony is pinned beneath a huge mass of weight. He coughs several times, trying to figure clear his lungs of dust.

He can feel the rumble in the Hulk’s chest as he stands up, tossing Tony to the ground.

Tony coughs again, and gets on his hands and knees trying to breathe. He pulls his shirt up over his mouth and pulls in air through the fabric.

He can see Jane and Peter a couple feet away. It looks like hid behind a desk so they aren’t severely injured.

“This is Protocol One,” JARVIS says. “The Hulk has been unleashed in Lab 12, Captain America and Thor please report to Lab 12.”

“JARVIS,” Tony croaks and then tries again. “JARVIS get someone after Neil.”

“Yes, sir,” he says smoothly.

Tony peers at the Hulk, he’s looking down at Tony like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle.

“Do you remember me?” Tony asks carefully. “We fought together.” He swallows nervously. “We smashed together.”

A grin spreads over the Hulk’s face and he grunts.

“You saved my life, do you remember that?”

Thor and Captain America skid to a stop in front of the doors to the lab. They open the door and step inside. 

The Hulk turns to them. 

Darcy appears through the blast proof glass, yanking the door open behind them.

“Darcy, no,” Tony tries, waving his arm frantically, trying to get her to leave.

Steve turns around and starts to push her out of the room but he never gets that far.

“Darcy,” the Hulk booms out.

Everyone in the room freezes. Peter is poised on top of a desk, ready to get involved if it’s necessary. Tony is desperately wishing for his suit about now, but he doesn’t have one in this lab. Thor is shifting his grip on Mjolnir. 

“Hi, Hulk,” Darcy says, bending around Steve to peer at her boyfriend’s alter ego. She waves. 

“Darcy get out of here,” Tony says through his clenched teeth.

“He won’t hurt me,” Darcy says.

“And how do you know that?” Steve asks softly.

“He hasn’t started smashing anything yet,” she answers. “He’s not angry right now.”

“Darcy,” the Hulk says again, and he smiles.

“Come on, I have so many questions for him,” Darcy says to Steve, smiling as winningly as she possibly can.

“Bruce will actually kill me if he knows I let you in this room while he was the Hulk.” Steve responds.

“Okay, I’ll just talk from here then, alright.” Darcy peers around Steve again. “I’m guessing you know who I am then big guy since you keep saying my name.”

“Darcy is Banner’s girlfriend,” Hulk says.

“That’s right!” Darcy beams at him and the Hulk- the _Hulk_ actually blushes. 

“Banner thinks Darcy is very pretty,” the Hulk says almost shyly.

Now it’s Darcy’s turn to blush.

Tony has his hand clamped over his mouth trying not to laugh at this completely implausibly ridiculous situation.

“I have a lot of questions for you,” Darcy points at him, “and we have a lot of things to talk about, but I think we’ll have to save that for another day. I really need to talk to Bruce, could you let him come back?”

The Hulk frowns, which is an interesting expression to see on his face. “For Darcy,” he says.

“Thanks, big guy,” she answers with a grin that shows off her dimples.

Slowly, the Hulk starts to shrink, and the green starts to fade slowly. Bruce Banner is left, clutching his pants around his waist because his belt snapped off when he transformed.

Darcy ducks around Steve and approaches him.

“I thought you said that you’d run the other way if you ever met the Hulk,” Bruce says with a wry smile.

“I lied so you’d go out with me and not feel concerned about me getting hurt, because I mean come on Bruce, if I get the chance to meet your alter-ego then I’m going to.” She pauses and then adds, “He was very charming too.”

“I haven’t heard that one before,” Bruce mutters.

Darcy laughs as she hands him an extra pair of pants.

Steve is moving over to Peter and Jane. “Are you two hurt at all?”

Jane steps up on her tiptoes to hug Thor.

“We’re both fine, Peter pulled me down in time so that I didn’t get too badly burned.” Jane says.

“Thank you Peter,” Thor says sincerely.

Pepper throws open the door and walks in. “Tony Stark,” she half-shouts.

Tony flinches and ducks behind a lab table. “Don’t hurt me,” he says. “It wasn’t my fault, it was Neil, he tried to kill me!”

“Tony Stark if you try to die one more time this month I will kill you myself,” Pepper says, her eyes turning red.

She throws herself at her fiancee, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to him. 

“Are you hurt?” she asks.

“No,” Tony says, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her as close as possible. “No, Hulk saved me. I’m fine Pepper.” Everyone else is filing out of the room respectfully leaving them to their moment. 

Tony runs his hands up and down her back soothingly. “I’m fine Pepper,” he whispers. “We’re both fine, we’re getting married in five days.”

She can hear the stupid smile in his voice as he keeps whispering to her.

“We’re going to get married in five days wherever you want and then we’ll go on a honeymoon. I’m thinking Venice because you turned me down for that vacation last time. And then in a couple months, we’re going to have a baby.”

Pepper pulls back, wiping her tears away. “Please stop almost dying,” she says.

“I will do my best for you,” Tony promises her and leans down to give her a light kiss. “I love you Pepper.”

“I love you too,” she answers.

 *    *    *

Natasha and Clint both reach the ground floor at the same time. Clint has an arrow loaded and Natasha has both her guns out.

They start for the doors after acknowledging each other. 

Coulson is standing in front of the glass doors, peering outside. He holds a hand up to stop Natasha and Clint from moving out of the building.

“Nikki and Bucky are pursuing him,” he says quietly, “let’s see what happens.”

“Still wondering if he’s trustworthy then,” Clint says and peers over Coulson’s shoulder to look.

“Of course,” Phil answers.

They watch as Nikki stops running, bracing herself and get a firmer grip on the handle of her gun. She aims for a less than half a second and shoots, one shot.

Neil goes down clutching his left thigh, but then he struggles to his feet again and tries to keep running.

It looks like Nikki rolls her eyes and then gestures Bucky onwards to go and run him down.

Bucky takes the suggestion gladly, reaching Neil easily and grabbing his collar.

“Alright, now we go out,” Coulson says and steps outside the building. Clint and Natasha follow, holstering their respective weapons.

Bucky is hauling Neil back towards them. “Was this a test?” he asks suspiciously, looking at the four SHEILD agents.

“It’s Agent Coulson,” Nikki answers. “It’s always a test.”

Clint laughs. “Alright fine,” he says, turning to his handler. “I like her, she can stay.” 

Coulson smiles slightly and looks up at Bucky. “Would you like to help me bring him in? I’m sure the agency has a lot of questions for him.”

“It would be my honor,” Bucky says.

Neil grumbles something in another language. Natasha responds coldly in the same language and he pales slightly.

Clint looks at her inquiringly but she shakes her head and gestures back to the building. “Let’s go see if Stark made it out without too many burns,” she says.

“But we have to climb all those stairs,” Clint whines. 

“I’ll ask JARVIS nicely,” Nikki says, walking behind them. “He likes me.”

“Does an AI actually like anyone?” Natasha asks, raising an eyebrow.

Nikki smiles. “You just have to know how to play him,” she answers.

*   *   * 

“It was Pentaerythritol tetranitrate,” Bruce says. He’s standing in the middle of the lab shirtless and looking at the table which is damaged from the table.

“I don’t know what that means,” Steve says, shifting his shield from one arm to another.

“It’s the primary compound in semtex,” Bruce says. “It’s highly explosive and highly unstable.”

“Clearly,” Pepper comments drily.

Clint, Natasha and Nikki walk in the room.

“I’m happy to announce that I solved the case,” Nikki announces to the room.

“Yeah?” Tony asks. “Did you have any help in that area?” he smirks.

“An explosion might have helped narrow down the options,” she admits. “Is everyone okay?” she looks around.

“We’re all fine,” Peter waves a hand. “Oh shit, I better call Gwen before she sees this on the news.” He digs his phone out of his pocket and ducks out the door. 

“So,” Darcy says. “Did you get the guy or what?”

“They got him,” Clint answers.

“Who specifically?” Darcy asks.

“Bucky.” Clint says. “Dragged him back like a naughty cat actually it was a beautiful sight.”

“Does this mean that he’s in the clear now?” Steve asks anxiously.

“Yeah, Cap,” Natasha answers. “He’s fine.”

“Well,” Darcy looks around at the lab. “Now what?” They all stand there in silence, taking in the destroyed lab.

“Breakfast?” Tony asks eventually.

“Breakfast,” Thor confirms in a loud voice.

 *   *   *

Steve pauses as he walks past the living room. Nikki is wandering through the room picking up her coat and keys. She’s singing while she does it, a song that Steve doesn’t recognize.

“What are you singing?” he asks, moving into full view.

Nikki turns around to look at him, throwing her coat over her shoulders and putting her keys in her pocket. “You’ve never heard Kansas?”

“The state?”

She laughs. “No, the band. I thought Darcy was teaching you pop culture.”

“She is, but it’s a long process. I missed a lot you know,” he sticks his hands into his pockets for something to do.

“Seventy years will do that to you,” she smiles easily and moves over to the elevator and presses the down button. 

“So are you leaving?” Steve asks.

Nikki nods, “Yup, my job is done so....” she trails off. “And I mean, there’s no real reason for me to stay,” she adds in a rush. She shifts uneasily from foot to foot.

“Yeah, yeah I guess there isn’t,” Steve agrees.

“I’ll see you later?” She asks, peeking up.

“Yeah, anytime you’re in town,” Steve agrees quickly. “Just give me a call.”

Nikki nods twice, “I will.” The elevator door dings and slides open. She steps inside and then pauses, looking back. “Take care of yourself Steve.”

The doors slide close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took me so long you have my full permission to yell at me in the comments. There will be one more chapter! And I've already started writing it.
> 
> ALSO IRON MAN 3 TONIGHT WHOO HOO.


	12. Time for a Wedding

The Quinjet is filled with the residents of Stark Tower. Jane is sitting on a bench, scribbling on a paper. 

“What are you doing?” Thor asks, leaning over her shoulder.

She waves him away impatiently. “I’m so close,” she says and she sounds like she’s almost close to tears.

Thor puts an comforting arm around her. “I’m sure you can do anything you want,” he says.

She smiles and tilts her head up for a kiss.

“We’re almost there,” Clint calls from the cockpit.

“When he says almost he means we’re descending right now,” Natasha adds from her seat beside him. “So get ready.”

Pepper reaches out and grabs Tony’s hand. He returns the grip and smiles at her. “I love you,” he says.

“I love you too.”

He leans forward and kisses her temple. Pepper leans into it, trying to keep her insides on her inside. She feels like she’s going to vibrate apart.

 *   *   *

The beach of Venice that Tony owns is beautiful of course. The clear water of the Mediterranean completes the scene, adding a nice contrast to the yellow of the sand. The Avengers and company are sitting in the sand in two columns with a few exceptions. Coulson is standing at the head of the two rows with his hands folded in front of him. Tony is standing next to him in a tux, looking apprehensive. 

And Pepper, Pepper is walking down the makeshift aisle. She’s wearing a simple wedding dress, long sleeves and a short train. The fabric clings to her figure and shines softly. 

Tony smiles, falters, and then grins wider than Pepper has every seen him smile. She smiles back, shifting her bouquet, which is an array of colorful flowers. She reaches Tony’s side and they face each other.

Pepper hands her flowers off to Darcy, who is sitting closest and then takes Tony’s hand.

Coulson takes a deep breath. “If I know anything, then I know that you two know what hard times are. I know that you will be there for each other through sickness and health, good times and bad, because you have already gone through those experiences. And I know that you will continue to go through them together.” He pauses, looking down. He takes a step back, “Would you like to say your vows?”

Tony starts, holding up a finger and reaching in his pocket. “I wrote it down,” he mutters. He pulls out a folded piece of computer paper and holds it out in front of him. He starts reading, “There was a long point in time when there was something missing from my life, and I couldn’t define it. I tried. But all I knew that it wasn’t what I had at the time. I was unfulfilled and I couldn’t figure out why. 

“And then, a couple years ago I had to hire a new PA, and this gorgeous woman walked in, and she was wearing ridiculously high heels and a pencil skirt and told me she would never sleep with me in a million years.” Tony looks down, laughing slightly. “Well, I guess she was wrong about that one.

“Slowly she started to take care of me, and I didn’t even realize it for a long time. I didn’t even realize that that hole had been filled, I just knew I felt better. It took me getting kidnapped and almost dying to realize what I needed and wanted most. I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner, honey, but you are the one thing I don’t want to live without.”

Tony reaches up and wipes away a small tear. He clears his throat and puts his paper back in his pocket. 

Jane sniffles in the background.

“Tony Stark,” Pepper begins. “When I met you I thought you were the most arrogant bastard I’d every had the displeasure of working for.” Darcy laughs quietly. 

Pepper smiles crookedly. “But I fell in love with you quickly. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I did.” She’s starting to cry, she pats at her tears so as to not mess up her makeup. “You’re the most frustrating man I know, but I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else. There is no one else.” She’s crying hard now, sniffling and grinning in spurts. 

Tony is smiling, and his eyes are red. He doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s tearing up again.

“I love you,” Pepper says. “I love you and I have always loved you and I always will love you. I promise you that.”

Coulson takes a step forward, taking his place as the officiator again. His voice is quiet. “I now pronounce you man and wife.” He turns to Pepper. “You may kiss the Groom.”

She laughs and steps forward, throwing one arm around Tony’s neck. He, as usual, exaggerates it, dipping her and kissing her while she lifts one leg into the air to try to keep her balance. Pepper comes out of it laughing, and Tony’s grinning.

Everyone else is clapping. “I love you,” Tony whispers into her ear. “God, I can’t even tell you how much I love you.”

She turns to him and kisses him softly. “I love you too.”

*   *   * 

Tony and Pepper have disappeared, walking back up the beach to a waiting car to take them to wherever they’ll be honeymooning. The rest of the group is scattered, not bothering to keep track of anyone else.

Darcy leans against Bruce’s shoulder. “Let’s go somewhere,” she says.

“We’re already in Venice,” Bruce says, laughing softly.

“I mean somewhere else,” she answers. “Let’s get away from the group, lets get some alone time.”

“I could go for that,” Bruce says. “Alone time.” He presses his lips against her temple. She lifts her face up to kiss him. She makes it soft and slow, winding her fingers in his hair, which is her favorite thing to do. 

“Where do you want to go?” he asks, his lips moving against her mouth. “Your choice, anywhere in the world.”

She smiles, pressing forward to kiss him again. She leans back, looking at him and pressing his hair down in places. “I quite like you,” she says finally, smiling at him.

“I would hope so,” Bruce answers. “Where did that come from?”

She shrugs. “I was just thinking about it. I am extremely fond of you.” She smiles wide then presses her lips together, considering him. “London,” she decides. “Or Cardiff. Maybe Dublin. Somewhere in the UK, I’ve never been there before and I’ve always wanted to go.”

Bruce brushes back a piece of hair that blows across her face. “We can go to all of them,” he says.

Darcy raises her eyebrows, “Well I won’t complain about that,” she says.

 *   *   *

Jane reaches into her pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. She hands it to Thor. He takes it, looking quizzically at her for a moment. “What is this?” he asks. 

He unfolds it, revealing a long equation. 

“I figured it out,” Jane says, letting go a huge breath. “I mean I haven’t tested it or anything, but theoretically it should work.” She smiles at him. “You can come and go from Asgard whenever you want.”

Thor puts his arm around her and pulls her into his side. She’s so small that she fits under his arm easily and curls up against his side. 

He presses his lips against her hair. “Thank you,” he says. “This is a kindness that I have never been given before.”

Jane presses closer to him. She wipes her fingers underneath her eyes.

“However, I do not think I will have much use for it in the near future,” he adds. “I intend to stay here for a while longer, and I am hoping that when I return to Asgard you will go with me.”

Jane sits up, looking at him. “You want me to go with you? Is that-” she pauses. “Is that a good idea?”

“What do you mean?”

Jane paused, trying to phrase it nicely and then giving up. “Will they ... accept me? I am a Midguardian.”

“Of course they will,” Thor nods. “I love you, and that will be enough for most of them, and the rest wouldn’t dare confront either of us about it.”

Jane nods and smiles. “Okay, I’ll go, I’d love to go, see another world. I’d get to see your world, where you grew up, meet your parents-” she sucks in a breath, grinning. “I’m very excited,” she finishes.

Thor hesitates. “There is one thing,” he says.

“What is it?”

“I would like you to go to Asgard as my betrothed.”

Jane blinks, looking at him. “You want to marry me?” she asks.

“I would like nothing more,” he answers.

Jane claps a hand over her mouth, and then jumps forward, throwing her arms around Thor’s neck.

“Is that a yes?” he asks laughing and winding his arms around her.

She laughs, pressing closer. “Yes, that’s a yes. I would very much like to marry you.”

“Good,” Thor says softly, running a hand over her hair. “Good,” he repeats in a whisper. 

 *   *   *

“Captain America,” a voice comes behind Steve. He turns around, splashing a little bit. The waves come and swirl around his ankles. 

Nikki is standing there, holding a piece of paper in her clasped hands. She is dressed in a button down shirt and a flowing skirt. The waves touch the tips of her toes as she stands there.

Steve straightens into attention and snaps his hand to his forehead, giving her a salute. She returns it, smiling slightly.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, grinning.

She holds out the piece of paper to him.

He takes it, unfolding it and looking down at it. SHEILD’s official seal is as the top. 

“You have another mission, one especially designing for Captain America,” she says, shifting her weight.

“Solo?” he asks, looking up from the paper.

“I’ve also been assigned to this mission,” she says, nodding.

Steve’s smile grows until it takes up his whole face. “Well,” he says, stepping out of the range of the waves and offering his arm to Nikki. “Let’s go catch some bad guys.”

“Let’s,” she agrees, taking his arm and walking up the beach with them.

Coulson falls in line with them. “I’ll be accompanying you of course,” he says.

“Of course,” Steve answers with a grin.

“It’s been too long since I’ve been in the field with an actual mission, rather than saving the world.”

“It’s an extraordinary life you lead, Phil,” Nikki says.

Coulson looks back at the people still sitting on the beach. “It is indeed.”

 *   *   *

Natasha stands up and tugs Clint off of the sand.

He moans and flops on the ground. “I don’t want to move, I want to stay on the beach forever, stay with me on the beach forever Natasha.”

“Clint, if I have to knock you out and toss you over my shoulder to get you out of Venice I will do it.”

Clint peeks at her from underneath his arm. “What is so important that we need to get out of Venice immediately?”

Natasha crosses her arms, her purple dress blowing around her ankles. “It’s a surprise,” she says stubbornly.

Clint reaches out and touches the hem of her dress. “Why do you always wear long dresses?” he asks abruptly. He labors to his feet to look at her. “Every time you’re not on a mission you wear long dresses.”

“I’m more comfortable in them,” she says.

“Yeah but then you can’t show off your legs, and you kind of have fantastic legs,” Clint says half grinning.

Natasha narrows her eyes at him and moves quickly, getting him in a headlock and kicking his legs out from under him, making him fall on the sand hard.

He wheezed out a laugh through his breathlessness. “Oh God, I knew you’d take me down for that.” When he gets his breath back he giggles on the sand for a moment. “Oh, I love you Natasha.”

He can sense her freeze slightly, and then relax. “If you don’t get up we can’t leave,” she says. He can hear the smile in her voice.

Clint stands up again and looks at her. She’s smiling softly, it makes her skin looks like it’s glowing. “Natasha,” he says as seriously as he can muster. “Are we going to Disneyland?”

Her smile widens slightly. “Clint, it’s a surprise, don’t you know the nature of a surprise?” she asks.

He jumps in the air, “I knew it!” He half screams. He grabs her hand and tugs her towards the city. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go.” 

She laughs, following along with him. “You owe me so big, Barton.”

He turns around and smiles at her. “I’ll make it up to you,” he promises. 

Suddenly she’s very aware of his genuine smile, his hand in hers, and the setting sun’s rays lighting gently on his face. 

She steps closer, winding their fingers together and hooking her other hand on the inside of his elbow. 

“Let’s get this nightmare over with then,” she says.

He’s looking at her strangely. He drops her hand and slides one of his arms around her waist, the other hand tangling in her hair. He pulls her in close against his body.

“Thanks for sticking with me, Nat.”

She presses her face into his shoulder and winds her arms around his waist. “Thanks for not shooting me, when we met,” she answers.

They stand there for a moment, holding each other and then let go, rejoin hands and walk towards the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading with me to the end. This series has been really entertaining and while there will may be some small little fliclets added over time I think this is the last large installment. Thank you so much for sticking through to the end.


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